Title |
High Degree of Heterogeneity in Alzheimer's Disease Progression Patterns
|
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Published in |
PLoS Computational Biology, November 2011
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002251 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Natalia L. Komarova, Craig J. Thalhauser |
Abstract |
There have been several reports on the varying rates of progression among Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients; however, there has been no quantitative study of the amount of heterogeneity in AD. Obtaining a reliable quantitative measure of AD progression rates and their variances among the patients for each stage of AD is essential for evaluating results of any clinical study. The Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) and Functional Assessment Staging procedure (FAST) characterize seven stages in the course of AD from normal aging to severe dementia. Each GDS/FAST stage has a published mean duration, but the variance is unknown. We use statistical analysis to reconstruct GDS/FAST stage durations in a cohort of 648 AD patients with an average follow-up time of 4.78 years. Calculations for GDS/FAST stages 4-6 reveal that the standard deviations for stage durations are comparable with their mean values, indicating the presence of large variations in the AD progression among patients. Such amount of heterogeneity in the course of progression of AD is consistent with the existence of several sub-groups of AD patients, which differ by their patterns of decline. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Unknown | 7 | 88% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Members of the public | 5 | 63% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 13% |
Scientists | 1 | 13% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 13% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
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United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
Hong Kong | 1 | <1% |
Portugal | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 100 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
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Researcher | 20 | 19% |
Student > Bachelor | 11 | 10% |
Student > Master | 10 | 10% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 8 | 8% |
Other | 14 | 13% |
Unknown | 16 | 15% |
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Neuroscience | 22 | 21% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 19 | 18% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 10 | 10% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 10 | 10% |
Psychology | 6 | 6% |
Other | 21 | 20% |
Unknown | 17 | 16% |