Blink Rate Study in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment and Subjective Cognitive Decline

BACKGROUND: Blink rate (BR) is considered a marker of dopaminergic activity in humans. BR is increased in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), but no study has yet investigated whether BR changes with the progression of cognitive decline from MCI to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and whether BR abnormalities are present in subjects with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD). OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to assess BR in patients with AD, MCI, and SCD and to correlate BR with demographic and clinical features of cognitive decline. METHODS: We enrolled 22 subjects with SCD, 23 with MCI, and 18 with AD and a group of 20 age-matched healthy controls (HCs). Cognitive function was assessed by testing global cognitive status and frontal, attentional, memory, verbal, and visuospatial functions. BR was measured by counting the number of blinks per minute. RESULTS: MCI subjects had an increased BR (p <0.001), whereas AD subjects had a lower BR than HCs (p <0.05). Conversely, SCD subjects had a BR similar to HCs. No significant correlations emerged between neuropsychological scores and BR in SCD, MCI, and AD subjects. CONCLUSION: Increased BR in MCI likely reflects early compensatory mechanisms occurring before AD, whereas decreased BR in AD suggests dopaminergic system involvement in this condition.