Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2021, Vol. 16 ›› Issue (9): 1766-1767.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.306071

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Predictive models for mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease conversion

Konstantina Skolariki*, Graciella Muniz Terrera, Samuel O. Danso   

  1. Bioinformatics and Human Electrophysiology Laboratory, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece (Skolariki K)
    Centre for Dementia Prevention, University of Edinburgh, UK (Terrera GM)
    Division of Neuroimaging, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and Edinburgh Imaging, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (Terrera GM, Danso SO)
  • Online:2021-09-15 Published:2021-02-05
  • Contact: Konstantina Skolariki, MScR, kskolariki@hotmail.com.

Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible and progressive neurodegenerative disease as well as the most common form of dementia. It usually affects the older population, but early onset AD is still possible (Ritchie et al., 2015). Recent studies propose that AD is a middle-life disease (Ritchie et al., 2015). Regardless the onset of the disease, it is important to note that it takes years for the symptoms to manifest. Specifically, it is believed that AD begins 20 years before the onset of symptoms. AD broadly includes three stages: preclinical AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia (Grassi et al., 2019). Researchers find it challenging to classify the MCI stage. This is partly because although MCI patients appear to have neurological deficits, their symptoms are not advanced enough to meet the AD criteria. MCI is also known as the stage between normal cognitive ageing and dementia and is often thought of as the prodromal stage of AD (Grassi et al., 2019). MCI patients can either remain stable at this stage of the disease or convert to AD. Approximatively 20–40% of MCI patients convert to AD (MCI converters-MCIc; Grassi et al., 2019). Like any other disease, early diagnosis is important. Therefore, identifying subtle brain changes that occur during the MCI-to-AD conversion as early as possible could be the key to the development of more effective treatment plans.