Supplementary Material for: Mini-Mental State Examination Is Sensitive to Brain Atrophy in Alzheimer’s Disease

<i>Background/Aims:</i> Screening instruments such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) are useful for the early identification of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We tested whether macrostructural differences in brain volume are related to the MMSE. <i>Methods:</i> The MMSE was related to cortical thickness and the volume of 19 brain structures in 96 patients with mild to moderate AD. In addition, the patients were compared to 93 healthy elderly controls. <i>Results:</i> The MMSE was related to the volume of the total brain, cerebral cortex, accumbens, cerebral white matter, inferior lateral ventricles and hippocampus. Positive correlations with cortical thickness were found for 41% of the brain surface, and 58% of this area was significantly thinner in AD. <i>Conclusion:</i> The MMSE is sensitive to macrostructural brain atrophy in AD, but also to morphometric variation not specifically related to AD.

背景与目的：诸如简易精神状态检查表（Mini-Mental State Examination，MMSE）这类筛查工具，对阿尔茨海默病（Alzheimer’s disease，AD）的早期识别具有重要应用价值。本研究旨在探讨脑体积的宏观结构差异是否与MMSE评分相关。
方法：纳入96例轻中度阿尔茨海默病患者，分析其MMSE评分与19种脑结构的皮层厚度及体积的相关性；同时将该患者队列与93例健康老年对照人群进行对比分析。
结果：MMSE评分与全脑、大脑皮层、伏隔核、大脑白质、外侧下脑室及海马体的体积存在显著相关性。在41%的大脑皮层表面观察到与皮层厚度呈正相关的区域，其中该类区域中的58%在阿尔茨海默病患者中表现出明显的皮层变薄。
结论：本研究证实，MMSE评分可敏感反映阿尔茨海默病患者的脑宏观结构萎缩，同时也能捕捉到并非特异性针对阿尔茨海默病的脑形态计量学变化。