Association between variant amyloid deposits and motor deficits in FAD-associated presenilin-1 mutations: A systematic review

Background: The variant amyloid deposits (VAD) include cotton wool plaques and diffuse plaques, which are associated with various motor deficits (e.g. spastic paraparesis, myoclonus, parkinsonism and ataxia). VADs have been repeatedly identified in presenilin 1 (PSEN1) mutations. It is still unknown the effect of VAD on the motor deficits as well as on the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature using MEDLINE, AD&FTDMDB and China National Knowledge Infrastructure database. Results: A total of 46 studies on 84 patients were included. We found that the odds ratio of the motor deficits in the VAD group (56 patients) was 4.231 times of the non-VAD group (28 patients). Moreover, VAD group displayed older age of onset (42.80 +/- 9.12 years) and longer duration (9.05 +/- 4.75 years) of the diseases. Conclusions: These results suggested that the VADs might be associated with the increased occurrence of the motor deficits. Moreover, the VADs might act as a protective modifier of the disease course of AD. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.