Cognitive and psychological characteristics in patients with Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: a literature review

Silvia Schiavolin; Giorgia Camarda; Alessia Mazzucchelli; Arianna Mariniello; Giulia Marinoni; Benedetta Storti; Isabella Canavero; Anna Bersano; Matilde Leonardi

doi:10.1007/s10072-024-07399-7

Cognitive and psychological characteristics in patients with Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: a literature review

Neurol Sci. 2024 Feb 22. doi: 10.1007/s10072-024-07399-7. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Silvia Schiavolin¹, Giorgia Camarda², Alessia Mazzucchelli¹, Arianna Mariniello¹, Giulia Marinoni³, Benedetta Storti³, Isabella Canavero³, Anna Bersano³, Matilde Leonardi¹

Affiliations

¹ SC Neurologia, Salute Pubblica E Disabilità, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Via Celoria, 11, 20133, Milan, Italy.
² SC Neurologia, Salute Pubblica E Disabilità, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Via Celoria, 11, 20133, Milan, Italy. giorgia.camarda@istituto-besta.it.
³ SC Malattie Cerebrovascolari, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy.

PMID: 38388894
DOI: 10.1007/s10072-024-07399-7

Abstract

Aim: To review the current data on cognitive and psychological characteristics of patients with CAA and on the instruments used for their evaluation.

Methods: A systematic search was performed in Embase, Scopus and PubMed with terms related to "cerebral amyloid angiopathy", "neuropsychological measures" and "patient-reported outcome measures" from January 2001 to December 2021.

Results: Out of 2851 records, 18 articles were selected. The cognitive evaluation was present in all of which, while the psychological one only in five articles. The MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination), TMT (Trail Making Test), fluency test, verbal learning test, digit span, digit symbol and Rey figure tests were the most used cognitive tests, while executive function, memory, processing speed, visuospatial function, attention and language were the most frequent impaired cognitive functions. Depression was the most considered psychological factor usually measured with BDI (Beck Depression Inventory) and GDS (Geriatric Depression Scale).

Conclusions: The results of this study might be used in clinical practice as a guide to choose cognitive and psychological instruments and integrate them in the clinical evaluation. The results might also be used in the research field for studies investigating the impact of cognitive and psychological variables on the disease course and for consensus studies aimed at define a standardized evaluation of these aspects.

Keywords: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy; Cognitive factors; Evaluation; Psychological factors.

Publication types

Review