Brief risk rating scale: A preliminary screening and monitoring tool emphasizing individual differences for better prognosis in Alzheimer’s disease

¹ Department of Neurology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Medical School and the State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Institute of Brain Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

² Jiangsu Province Stroke Center for Diagnosis and Therapy, Nanjing, China

³ Nanjing Neuropsychiatry Clinic Medical Center, Nanjing, China

†These authors contributed equally to this work.

Advanced Neurology 2022, 1(3), 208 https://doi.org/10.36922/an.v1i3.208

Received: 29 September 2022 | Accepted: 3 November 2022 | Published online: 23 November 2022

© 2022 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Over the last several decades, significant progress has been made in the diagnostic criteria of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to identify its early stages, including subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment. However, the previous research rarely took account of individual differences when evaluating AD-spectrum patients at different stages, thereby resulting in similar treatment, which was not only ineffective but also resulted in the missed window of opportunity for intervention. In this review, we propose the Brief Risk Rating Scale (BRRS), which is predominantly based on extant literature concerning AD risk factors and brain alterations, with the aim of providing a preliminary screening and monitoring tool that can facilitate the assessment of individual’s risk level, the prediction and tracking of disease progression, as well as precise treatment in a timely manner. Meanwhile, due to its simplicity and ease of use, it can be widely promoted and likewise accessible to clinicians in grassroots clinics. In general, the scale comprises two parts: The original score (O) related to patients’ risk factors and the variation score (V) related to brain abnormalities tested by different sequences of magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, the advantages along with its clinical application, such as introducing BRRS into cognitive training and brain stimulation, are also discussed. We conclude that BRRS positively contributes to enhancing the accuracy of clinical diagnosis and the efficiency of personalized treatment in AD-spectrum patients, with individual differences fully considered and little additional burden added. However, the weight coefficient of each item in BRRS should be thoroughly studied in future research.

Keywords

Alzheimer’s disease

Guideline

Risk factor

Magnetic resonance imaging

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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