SEVERITY OF SYMPTOMS AND RATE OF PROGRESSION IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - A COMPARISON OF CASES WITH EARLY AND LATE ONSET

Since first description of Alzheimer's disease rapid symptom progression and relatively severe cognitive symptoms have been frequently associated with early age of onset, while slow symptom progression and relatively mild cognitive symptoms were often related to late age of onset. In a longitudinal study of 90 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, we investigated these hypotheses. We found that neither severity of cognitive symptoms nor symptom progression in Alzheimer's disease were associated with age of onset. In addition, a comparison of extreme groups (group 1: < 60 years of age, group 2: > 75 years of age), taken from the study sample, showed similar results with respect to the independent variables. These results suggest that the interindividual variability of cognitive impairment as well as the large variation of symptom progression in Alzheimer's disease cannot be explained by age of onset.