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Introduction The clinical meaningfulness of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale–Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) subscale change is disputed. We compared 2- to 4-point ADAS-Cog changes with changes in Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) and everyday function across initial ADAS-Cog scores and treatment responses. Methods This exploratory analysis evaluated mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease patients treated with donepezil (12 months) or galantamine (8 months). Clinical meaningfulness was defined as concomitant ADAS-Cog and GAS changes of ±3 points and/or functional improvement. Results Patients with ≥3-point ADAS-Cog improvement significantly improved on GAS but not on standard tests of everyday function. ADAS-Cog "no change" (≤±3 points) was seen with mean GAS improvement. Initial ADAS-Cog improvement made endpoint improvement (ADAS-Cog 3 points and GAS 1 point) more likely (odds ratio = 6.9; 95% confidence interval=2.5–19.5). In contrast, initial deterioration made endpoint improvement unlikely (0.33; 0.14–0.64). Discussion ADAS-Cog improvement and no change were each associated with GAS improvement. Initial ADAS-Cog worsening was unlikely to result in later improvement. Clinical trial registration number ISRCTN26167328.

performance in hMWM correlated with reduced traveling (r1⁄4.49; p1⁄4.015). Reduced traveling also correlated with performance on a nonverbal memory test (r1⁄4-.78, p

Alzheimer's disease (AD) in general is characterized by common cognitive and behavioral dysfunction that evolve as the disease progresses. The complexity of AD is reflected in patient heterogeneity and emergence of different symptoms as the disease progresses. We employed a network visualization approach to display significant symptom associations of 60 symptoms by the severity of dementia. Background • NPS clustering patterns were similar between the MCI/Mild and Moderate/Severe severity groups, with a distinct depressive cluster and a distinct psychotic cluster.

Of 250 profilees, most care partners were women (203; 81%), 208 (83%) were less than 65 years old, usually with adult children (125; 50%) or spouses (71; 28%). Most caregivers lived in the same household (115; 46%) or saw the person with dementia at least 5 days a week (46; 18%) although 18 (7%) saw the person less than weekly. Most site users came from the United States (113; 45%) Canada (82; 33%) or the United Kingdom (22; 9%). The mean age of the patients was 77.1 years (SD = 11.1) and 133 (53%) were women. Most (198; 79%) were community dwelling, with the remaining (52; 21%) in assisted living or nursing home care. DS scores ranged from 0 to 14, with a mode of 8. With respect to patient residence (community versus institution) none of the 33 people profiled at the lowest levels of dependence (DS 12) 13 (52%) were resident in a long term care facility (χ²=27.9, P 10.

Understanding disease progression in dementia trials relies chiefly on multidimensional measures, such as the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale – Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), NeuroPsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and the quality of life measure EQ-5D. Typically, mean changes in each measure are compared statistically. Recent work has suggested that change in the degree of connectivity between items which make up these scores can reflect underlying disease processes. We evaluated change in connectivity in patients treated with rosiglitazone, which does not impact disease progression. Figure 1. Connectivity Graphs at Baseline