• Online Features  This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (6)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Neurology  • Neurogenetics  • Neurology, Other  • Genetic Disorders  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Emily Rogalski, PhD; Nancy Johnson, PhD; Sandra Weintraub, PhD; Marsel Mesulam, MD

Arch Neurol. 2008;65(2):244-248.

Background  Although risk factors for Alzheimer disease have been well studied, much less is known about risk factors for primary progressive aphasia (PPA).

Objective  To demonstrate that learning disabilities (LDs) are more common in patients with PPA and their first-degree family members.

Design, Setting, and Patients  Self-report endorsement of an individual and family history of an LD in a sample of 699 subjects from the Northwestern Alzheimer's Disease Center registry. We compared 3 dementia groups (PPA, typical amnestic Alzheimer disease, and the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia) and 1 elderly control group. A retrospective medical record review in the PPA probands was used to obtain additional information.

Main Outcome Measure  Prevalence of LDs among probands and their first-degree relatives.

Results  The patients with PPA and their first-degree family members had a significantly higher frequency of LD compared with the other dementia groups and the controls. Some of the families of patients with PPA displayed unusual concentrations of LD, especially dyslexia.

Conclusion  These results suggest that LD may constitute a risk factor for PPA, providing additional clues concerning the determinants for the selective vulnerability of the language network in this syndrome.

Author Affiliations: Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center (Drs Rogalski, Johnson, Weintraub, and Mesulam) and Departments of Psychiatry (Drs Johnson and Weintraub) and Neurology (Dr Mesulam), Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.

CiteULike    Connotea    Delicious    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Distinct clinical and metabolic deficits in PCA and AD are not related to amyloid distribution
Rosenbloom et al.
Neurology 2011;76:1789-1796.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Looking into posterior cortical atrophy: Providing insight into Alzheimer disease
Tang-Wai and Graff-Radford
Neurology 2011;76:1778-1779.
FULL TEXT