Serum homocysteine levels are correlated with behavioral and psychological symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic and clinical data of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and controls

	Controls (N=37)	AD (N=77)	Controls versus AD
			Statistics value	P-value
Sex (female)	13 (24)	26 (51)	0.021	0.885
Age	75.86 (5.74)	76.73 (7.63)	0.609	0.544
Homocysteine (μmol/L)	9.84 (3.06)	13.35 (5.72)	3.489	0.001**
Folate (ng/mL)	13.41 (7.56)	10.26 (6.8)	−2.88	0.005**
Vitamin B12 (pg/mL)	677.86 (233.61)	578.98 (235.93)	1.363	0.176
Blood urea nitrogen (mg/dL)	16.06 (4.52)	19.33 (11.47)	1.522	0.132
Creatinine (mg/dL)	0.9 (0.25)	1.04 (0.57)	1.335	0.185
MMSE	27.03 (1.36)	17.35 (5.19)	−10.997	0.000**
GDS	1.81 (0.75)	4.2 (0.95)	13.241	0.000**
CDR	0.14 (0.23)	1.00 (0.38)	12.474	0.000**
NPI total	2.56 (2.51)	15.08 (18.34)	2.036	0.045*

Notes: Values represent mean (standard deviation).

* Significant at P<0.05.

** Significant at P<0.01.

Abbreviations: AD, Alzheimer’s disease; CDR, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale; GDS, Global Deterioration Scale; MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination; NPI, Neuropsychiatric Inventory.

Table 3 Mean Neuropsychiatric Inventory scores of patients with Alzheimer’s disease

	Mean NPI score of total AD (N=77)	Mean NPI score of mild AD (N=26)	Mean NPI score of moderate AD (N=51)	Mild versus moderate AD
				Statistics value	P-value
Delusion	1.53 (2.92)	1.08 (2.6)	1.76 (3.07)	−0.967	0.336
Hallucination	0.83 (2.47)	0.5 (2.35)	1.00 (2.54)	−0.834	0.407
Agitation/aggression	1.59 (2.65)	0.96 (2.39)	1.92 (2.74)	−1.509	0.136
Depression/dysphoria	1.42 (2.38)	1.12 (1.31)	1.59 (2.78)	−0.806	0.423
Anxiety	1.28 (2.1)	0.62 (0.94)	1.62 (2.49)	−2.011	0.048*
Euphoria/elation	0.21 (0.80)	0.08 (0.39)	0.28 (0.95)	−1.044	0.300
Apathy/indifference	2.13 (3.21)	1.38 (2.19)	2.52 (3.59)	−1.472	0.145
Disinhibition	0.66 (1.9)	0.85 (2.48)	0.56 (1.54)	0.620	0.537
Irritability/lability	1.43 (2.54)	1.35 (2.06)	1.48 (2.77)	−0.217	0.829
Aberrant motor behavior	1.62 (3.48)	0.92 (2.61)	1.98 (3.83)	−1.263	0.211
Sleep/night time behavior	1.47 (3.00)	0.92 (2.5)	1.76 (3.21)	−1.158	0.251
Appetite/eating change	0.95 (1.90)	0.81 (1.58)	1.02 (2.07)	−0.459	0.648

Notes: Data represents mean (standard deviation).

* Significant at P<0.05.

Abbreviations: AD, Alzheimer’s disease; NPI, Neuropsychiatric Inventory.

Table 2 Demographic and clinical data of patients with Alzheimer’s disease

	Total AD (N=77)	Mild AD (N=26)	Moderate AD (N=51)	Mild versus moderate AD
				Statistics value	P-value
Sex (female)	26 (51)	10 (16)	16 (35)	0.387	0.613
Age	76.73 (7.63)	77.23 (6.77)	76.47 (8.08)	0.411	0.341
Homocysteine (μmol/L)	13.35 (5.72)	12.71 (4.43)	13.68 (6.29)	−0.698	0.243
Folate (ng/mL)	10.27 (6.8)	13.63 (9.07)	8.55 (4.5)	3.291	0.001**
Vitamin B12 (pg/mL)	578.98 (235.93)	644.29 (259.73)	545.11 (220)	0.883	0.353
MMSE	17.35 (5.19)	22.54 (1.88)	14.7 (4.23)	8.96	0.000**
GDS	4.2 (0.95)	3.77 (0.65)	4.42 (1.01)	−2.97	0.02*
CDR	1.00 (0.38)	0.79 (0.25)	1.11 (0.39)	−3.77	0.000**
NPI total	15.08 (18.34)	10.46 (12.32)	17.48 (20.5)	−1.6	0.057

Notes: Data represents mean (standard deviation).

* Significant at P<0.05.

** Significant at P<0.01.

Abbreviations: AD, Alzheimer’s disease; CDR, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale; GDS, Global Deterioration Scale; MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination; NPI, Neuropsychiatric Inventory.

Table 4 Correlations of serum homocysteine levels and scores of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory

	Total AD		Mild AD		Moderate AD
	r	P-value	r	P-value	r	P-value
Delusion	0.403	0.000**	0.102	0.620	0.489	0.000**
Hallucination	−0.082	0.481	−0.051	0.803	−0.104	0.472
Agitation/aggression	0.308	0.007**	0.446	0.102	0.257	0.489
Depression/dysphoria	0.324	0.004**	0.057	0.780	0.366	0.009**
Anxiety	−0.020	0.867	0.044	0.830	−0.051	0.725
Euphoria/elation	0.262	0.022*	0.221	0.278	0.264	0.064
Apathy/indifference	0.297	0.009**	0.341	0.088	0.278	0.051
Disinhibition	0.261	0.023*	0.419	0.033*	0.217	0.131
Irritability/lability	0.216	0.060	0.210	0.303	0.217	0.131
Aberrant motor behavior	0.142	0.221	−0.032	0.875	0.172	0.231
Sleep/night time behavior	0.090	0.437	0.165	0.421	0.058	0.691
Appetite/eating change	0.206	0.074	0.126	0.541	0.224	0.118
NPI total	0.321	0.005**	0.339	0.090	0.308	0.029*

Notes:

* Significant at P<0.05.

** Significant at P<0.01.

Abbreviations: AD, Alzheimer’s disease; NPI, Neuropsychiatric Inventory.

Table 5 Correlations of serum homocysteine levels and scores of the Mini Mental State Examination, Global Deterioration Scale, and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale

	Total AD		Mild AD		Moderate AD
	r	P-value	r	P-value	r	P-value
MMSE	−0.037	0.750	−0.358	0.073	0.091	0.524
CDR	0.100	0.388	0.300	0.136	0.017	0.904
GDS	0.129	0.256	0.348	0.081	0.052	0.718

Abbreviations: AD, Alzheimer’s disease; CDR, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale; GDS, Global Deterioration Scale; MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination.