Cognitive Profile of the Logopenic Variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia Using the Dépistage Cognitif de Québec.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA) is characterized by impaired word-finding and sentence repetition with phonologic errors but spared motor speech and grammar and semantic knowledge. Although its language deficits have been well studied, the full spectrum of cognitive changes in the lvPPA remains to be defined. We aimed to explore the neurocognitive profile of the lvPPA using a newly developed cognitive screening tool for atypical dementias, the Dépistage Cognitif de Québec (DCQ). METHODS: We compared 29 patients with lvPPA to 72 amnestic variant Alzheimer disease (aAD) to 438 healthy control (HC) participants. Performance on the 5 indexes of the DCQ (Memory, Visuospatial, Executive, Language and Behavioral) was compared between the 3 groups. RESULTS: Results showed a significantly lower performance for lvPPA participants in all neurocognitive domains, when compared to HC. When compared to aAD, lvPPA participants had significantly lower scores for language, executive, and visuospatial abilities, but not for memory and behavior. CONCLUSION: Altogether, these findings better define the neurocognitive changes of lvPPA.