Quality of Life and the Experience of Living with Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease

• Published in: Journal of Alzheimer's disease Vol. 90; no. 2; pp. 719 - 726
• Main Authors: Villarejo-Galende, Alberto, García-Arcelay, Elena, Piñol-Ripoll, Gerard, del Olmo-Rodríguez, Antonio, Viñuela, Félix, Boada, Mercè, Franco-Macías, Emilio, Ibañez de la Peña, Almudena, Riverol, Mario, Puig-Pijoan, Albert, Abizanda-Soler, Pedro, Arroyo, Rafael, Baquero-Toledo, Miquel, Feria-Vilar, Inmaculada, Balasa, Mircea, Berbel, Ángel, Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Eloy, Vieira-Campos, Alba, García-Ribas, Guillermo, Rodrigo-Herrero, Silvia, Terrancle, Ángeles, Prefasi, Daniel, Lleó, Alberto, Maurino, Jorge
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Aged; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Cognitive Dysfunction; Humans; Quality of Life - psychology; Self Report; Surveys and Questionnaires; magnetic resonance imaging; amyloid; tau proteins; Alzheimer’s disease; biomarkers; white matter hyperintensities; cerebrospinal fluid; white matter lesions
• ISSN: 1387-2877; 1875-8908
• DOI: 10.3233/JAD-220696

Background: There is a need to better understand the experience of patients living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the early stages. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the perception of quality of life in patients with early-stage AD. Methods: A multicenter, non-interventional study was conducted including patients of 50–90 years of age with prodromal or mild AD, a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score ≥22, and a Clinical Dementia Rating-Global score (CDR-GS) of 0.5.–1.0. The Quality of Life in Alzheimer ’s Disease (QoL-AD) questionnaire was used to assess health-related quality of life. A battery of self-report instruments was used to evaluate different psychological and behavioral domains. Associations between the QoL-AD and other outcome measures were analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlations. Results: A total of 149 patients were included. Mean age (SD) was 72.3 (7.0) years and mean disease duration was 1.4 (1.8) years. Mean MMSE score was 24.6 (2.1). The mean QoL-AD score was 37.9 (4.5). Eighty-three percent (n = 124) of patients had moderate-to-severe hopelessness, 22.1% (n = 33) had depressive symptoms, and 36.9% (n = 55) felt stigmatized. The quality of life showed a significant positive correlation with self-efficacy and negative correlations with depression, emotional and practical consequences, stigma, and hopelessness. Conclusion: Stigma, depressive symptoms, and hopelessness are frequent scenarios in AD negatively impacting quality of life, even in a population with short disease duration and minimal cognitive impairment.