Subclinical epileptiform activity accelerates the progression of Alzheimer’s disease: A long-term EEG study

While many studies suggest that patients with Alzheimer’s disease have a higher chance for developing epileptic seizures, only few are available examining independent discharges. The major aims of our study was to determine the prevalence subclinical epileptiform activity (SEA) in AD compared healthy elderly controls hypothesis SEA is more frequent than cognitively normal individuals. Another aim analyze effect baseline captured electroencephalography on progression longitudinal cognitive testing. We investigated 52 Alzheimer no history seizures and 20 All participants underwent 24-hour electroencephalography, neurology, neuroimaging neuropsychology examination. Two raters analyzed visually electroencephalograms both were blind diagnoses. Thirty-eight enrolled 3-year long prospective follow-up yearly repeated evaluation. Subclinical discharges recorded significantly (p:0.018) frequently (54%) (25%). Epileptiform associated lower performance scores memory. spikes showed 1.5-times faster decline global without (p < 0.001). significant positive correlation spike frequency (r:+0.664; p occurs half who never suffered seizures. accelerated strong relation spatial distribution (left temporal) spikes. Our findings prominent role pathomechanism Alzheimer's which might serve as potential therapeutic target.