NYU Langone Medical Center's tip sheet to the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2008

Signs of Brain Disease among Healthy Individuals
Lidia Glodzik, MD, PhD, Research Physician, Center for Brain Health at NYU Langone Medical Center
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, July 29, 2008 at 12:30 p.m. CT

NYU researchers identified signs of pathology before the clinically noticeable stages of mild cognitive impairment that normally precede Alzheimer's disease. The study involved a cognitively normal group of people ages 40 to 86. It found that higher levels of tau protein in the cerebrospinal fluid correlated with lower grey matter density in brain regions that are important for learning and memory, and are susceptible to Alzheimer's. Combining cerebrospinal fluid measurements and imaging markers to identify normal subjects who are more vulnerable to the neurodegenerative disease opens an opportunity to explore early detection in the service of prevention, the researchers report.
Presentation # PS-070

Couples Counseling Helps the Spouse Caregiver
Mary S. Mittelman, Dr.P.H., Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL WEDNESDAY July 30 at 2:30 p.m. CT

When the patient with Alzheimer's and their spouse caregiver are counseled separately, they are expected to go home and live together. Can couples counseling help stabilize their relationship as they grapple with the disease? Early results show that it can. In a pilot study, researchers at NYU's Silberstein Center offered six counseling sessions focused on the new needs of each member of a couple brought about by the illness. Each of the ill spouses was in the early stages of dementia and could still participate in a counseling session. The NYU researchers report that all caregivers were surprised by how much the person with dementia could communicate in the session. They also report that relationships improved as a result of the counseling, and the caregivers became less depressed.
Presentation # P4-429

Subjective Memory Complaints a Predictor of Further Cognitive Decline
Barry Reisberg, MD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, July 29, 2008 at 12:30 p.m. CT

An NYU study that followed 213 healthy adults over an average of 7 years found that subjects with subjective memory complaints at the first evaluation were almost 7 times more likely to experience cognitive decline to mild cognitive impairment or dementia compared to adults without initial complaints. This is the first prediction study to link subjective cognitive impairment to both mild cognitive impairment and dementia and underlines the importance in studying early, non-specific symptoms that arise before mild cognitive impairment is apparent, the researchers report. Such efforts are critical to preventing the disease. To develop preventive interventions it may be necessary to accurately identify the disease in its earliest manifestations, when symptoms are first emerging, say the NYU researchers. These subjective symptoms appear to occur as early as twenty or more years before the overt dementia of Alzheimer's appears.
Presentation # PS-043