The relevance of hippocampal subfield integrity and clock drawing test performance for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

Objectives: The clock drawing test (CDT) is one of the worldwide most used screening tests for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). MRI studies have identified temporo-parietal regions being involved in CDT impairment. However, the contributions of specific hippocampal subfields and adjacent extrahippocampal structures to CDT performance in AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have not been investigated so far. It is unclear whether morphological alterations or CDT score, or a combination of both, are able to predict AD.

Methods: 38 AD patients, 38 MCI individuals and 31 healthy controls underwent neuropsychological assessment and MRI at 3 Tesla. FreeSurfer 5.3 was used to perform hippocampal parcellation. We used a collection of statistical methods to better understand the relationship between CDT and hippocampal formation. We also tested the clinical feasibility of this relationship when predicting AD.

Results: Impaired CDT performance in AD was associated with widespread atrophy of the cornu ammonis, presubiculum, and subiculum, whereas MCI subjects showed CDT-related alterations of the CA4-dentate gyrus and subiculum. CDT correlates in AD and MCI showed regional and quantitative overlap. Importantly, CDT score was the best predictor of AD.

Conclusions: Our findings lend support for an involvement of different hippocampal subfields in impaired CDT performance in AD and MCI. CDT seems to be more efficient than subfield imaging for predicting AD.

Keywords:

• Clock drawing test
• Alzheimer’s disease
• mild cognitive impairment
• MRI
• freesurfer

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the participants and their families for their time and interest in this study.

Statement of interest

None to declare.

Additional information

Funding

Alzheimer Forschung Initiative e.V.10.13039/100010146#3

This work was supported by a grant from the Alzheimer Forschung Initiative e.V. (to P.A.T.) [grant number #09853], a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to increase the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and to facilitate the development of new treatment strategies for this illness (www.alzheimer-forschung.de).