Comorbidity and progression of late onset Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review.

<h4>Background</h4>Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by multiple dimensions including cognitive decline, decreased daily functioning and psychiatric symptoms. This systematic review aims to investigate the relation between somatic comorbidity burden a...

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Main Authors: Miriam L Haaksma, Lara R Vilela, Alessandra Marengoni, Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga, Jeannie-Marie S Leoutsakos, Marcel G M Olde Rikkert, René J F Melis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177044
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author Miriam L Haaksma
Lara R Vilela
Alessandra Marengoni
Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga
Jeannie-Marie S Leoutsakos
Marcel G M Olde Rikkert
René J F Melis
author_facet Miriam L Haaksma
Lara R Vilela
Alessandra Marengoni
Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga
Jeannie-Marie S Leoutsakos
Marcel G M Olde Rikkert
René J F Melis
author_sort Miriam L Haaksma
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by multiple dimensions including cognitive decline, decreased daily functioning and psychiatric symptoms. This systematic review aims to investigate the relation between somatic comorbidity burden and progression in late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD).<h4>Methods</h4>We searched four databases for observational studies that examined cross-sectional or longitudinal associations of cognitive or functional or neuropsychiatric outcomes with comorbidity in individuals with LOAD. From the 7966 articles identified originally, 11 studies were included in this review. The Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment was used. The large variation in progression measures, comorbidity indexes and study designs hampered the ability to perform a meta-analysis. This review was registered with PROSPERO under DIO: 10.15124/CRD42015027046.<h4>Results</h4>Nine studies indicated that comorbidity burden was associated with deterioration in at least one of the three dimensions of LOAD examined. Seven out of ten studies investigating cognition found comorbidities to be related to decreased cognitive performance. Five out of the seven studies investigating daily functioning showed an association between comorbidity burden and decreased daily functioning. Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) increased with increasing comorbidity burden in two out of three studies investigating NPS. Associations were predominantly found in studies analyzing the association cross-sectionally, in a time-varying manner or across short follow-up (≤2 years). Rarely baseline comorbidity burden appeared to be associated with outcomes in studies analyzing progression over longer follow-up periods (>2 years).<h4>Conclusion</h4>This review provides evidence of an association between somatic comorbidities and multifaceted LOAD progression. Given that time-varying comorbidity burden, but much less so baseline comorbidity burden, was associated with the three dimensions prospectively, this relationship cannot be reduced to a simple cause-effect relation and is more likely to be dynamic. Therefore, both future studies and clinical practice may benefit from regarding comorbidity as a modifiable factor with a possibly fluctuating influence on LOAD.
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spelling doaj-art-5f509e2a3df44e2e96ffb10b2073f0942025-08-20T03:26:35ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01125e017704410.1371/journal.pone.0177044Comorbidity and progression of late onset Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review.Miriam L HaaksmaLara R VilelaAlessandra MarengoniAmaia Calderón-LarrañagaJeannie-Marie S LeoutsakosMarcel G M Olde RikkertRené J F Melis<h4>Background</h4>Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by multiple dimensions including cognitive decline, decreased daily functioning and psychiatric symptoms. This systematic review aims to investigate the relation between somatic comorbidity burden and progression in late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD).<h4>Methods</h4>We searched four databases for observational studies that examined cross-sectional or longitudinal associations of cognitive or functional or neuropsychiatric outcomes with comorbidity in individuals with LOAD. From the 7966 articles identified originally, 11 studies were included in this review. The Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment was used. The large variation in progression measures, comorbidity indexes and study designs hampered the ability to perform a meta-analysis. This review was registered with PROSPERO under DIO: 10.15124/CRD42015027046.<h4>Results</h4>Nine studies indicated that comorbidity burden was associated with deterioration in at least one of the three dimensions of LOAD examined. Seven out of ten studies investigating cognition found comorbidities to be related to decreased cognitive performance. Five out of the seven studies investigating daily functioning showed an association between comorbidity burden and decreased daily functioning. Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) increased with increasing comorbidity burden in two out of three studies investigating NPS. Associations were predominantly found in studies analyzing the association cross-sectionally, in a time-varying manner or across short follow-up (≤2 years). Rarely baseline comorbidity burden appeared to be associated with outcomes in studies analyzing progression over longer follow-up periods (>2 years).<h4>Conclusion</h4>This review provides evidence of an association between somatic comorbidities and multifaceted LOAD progression. Given that time-varying comorbidity burden, but much less so baseline comorbidity burden, was associated with the three dimensions prospectively, this relationship cannot be reduced to a simple cause-effect relation and is more likely to be dynamic. Therefore, both future studies and clinical practice may benefit from regarding comorbidity as a modifiable factor with a possibly fluctuating influence on LOAD.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177044
spellingShingle Miriam L Haaksma
Lara R Vilela
Alessandra Marengoni
Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga
Jeannie-Marie S Leoutsakos
Marcel G M Olde Rikkert
René J F Melis
Comorbidity and progression of late onset Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review.
PLoS ONE
title Comorbidity and progression of late onset Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review.
title_full Comorbidity and progression of late onset Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review.
title_fullStr Comorbidity and progression of late onset Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review.
title_full_unstemmed Comorbidity and progression of late onset Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review.
title_short Comorbidity and progression of late onset Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review.
title_sort comorbidity and progression of late onset alzheimer s disease a systematic review
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177044
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