Multivitamins Could Slow Progression Of Alzheimer’s in Some Patients, Study Shows

24 Aug 2016 --- A new analysis of cognitive tests in Alzheimer's disease has identified five distinct groups of Alzheimer's disease patients, and suggests that the consumption of multivitamins might slow progression of the disease in certain groups.

The research article from Pablo Moscato and colleagues, from the Hunter Medical Research Institute and University of Newcastle (Australia), presents a multivariate approach intended to improve the way Alzheimer’s is tested for in patients. 

Currently, cognitive impairment of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease is measured using the 'Mini-Mental State Examination' (MMSE) test, which involves monitoring answers to five types of questions and using an algorithm to score patients. However, the MMSE test has received criticism, with factors such as educational background being shown to affect scores.

During the study, researchers looked at 3717 patients from the Coalition Against Major Diseases dataset over a period of up to 4 years, and identified five different groups of Alzheimer's patients: cognizant, inattentive, forgetful, distant and absent. The groups were distinct in terms of both characteristics and prognostics. 

The researchers then analyzed the transitions between these different groups. During this part of the study, researchers noted that the consumption of multivitamins appeared to slow the progression of Alzheimer's from some groups to the next. 

Inna Tishchenko, the first author, explained: "We analyzed the cognitive performance of Alzheimer's disease patients over a time frame of up to 4 years and obtained hints that multivitamins might slow progression only in the group that presents a mild impairment in recalling." 

Aside from this discovery, the researchers also hope their study provides insight into the progression pathways of Alzheimer's disease, possibly highlighting the existence of subgroups.

The authors added, "This project was motivated by the observation that the CAMD database is an aggregation of several trials that employed varying cognitive test versions and are therefore generally incompatible or not directly comparable among each other in terms of the calculated patients' overall cognitive performance." 

"Our goal was to resolve which test categories contribute to the patient group differentiation the most, and to build a model that can be employed to reliably assign a patient to an Alzheimer's disease cognitive group associated with certain impairment characteristics and clinical prognosis, independent of the questionnaire version."

The model presented by the group is freely available for use via the supplementary material.