Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. May 19, 2025; 15(5): 103256
Published online May 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i5.103256
Correlation between mild behavioral impairment and peripheral blood biomarkers in patients with mild cognitive impairment
Wei Liang, Lan Wang, Mei Song, Hao Geng, Xin-Yang Jing, Wei Li, Ya-Xin Huo, An-Qi Huang, Xue-Yi Wang, Cui-Xia An
Wei Liang, Lan Wang, Mei Song, Hao Geng, Xin-Yang Jing, Wei Li, Ya-Xin Huo, An-Qi Huang, Xue-Yi Wang, Cui-Xia An, Mental Health Center, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050031, Hebei Province, China
Wei Liang, Xi’an Mental Health Center, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
Lan Wang, Hebei Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei Province, China
Co-first authors: Wei Liang and Lan Wang.
Author contributions: Liang W contributed to investigation, formal analysis, data curation, writing original draft; Wang L contributed to investigation, writing original draft; Song M contributed to investigation, funding acquisition; Geng H, Jing XY, Li W, Huo YX, Huang AQ contributed to investigation; Wang XY contributed to conceptualization; An CX contributed to conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing, review and editing; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the Government Funded Clinical Medicine Excellent Talents Training Project of Hebei Province, No. ZF2024136; National Science Foundation of Hebei Province, No. H2022206544; and Science and Technology Program of Hebei Province, No. SG2021189.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University (No. 20210902).
Informed consent statement: Each participant provided signed informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—a checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-a checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Cui-Xia An, MD, Professor, Mental Health Center, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 89 Donggang Road, Shijiazhuang 050031, Hebei Province, China. acxsunny@hebmu.edu.cn
Received: November 14, 2024
Revised: February 28, 2025
Accepted: April 3, 2025
Published online: May 19, 2025
Processing time: 168 Days and 4.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) refers to the neurobehavioral symptoms observed in older adults that may be potential risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases. While a significant number studies have explored the association between cerebrospinal fluid and MBI, only a few have examined the connection between plasma biomarkers and MBI.

AIM

To examine the prevalence of MBI in healthy older adults (HOAs) and individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), as well as the association between MBI and plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

METHODS

We enrolled a total of 241 subjects, which included 136 HOAs and 105 MCIs, from the Yuhua District of Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, China. The MBI symptom checklist (MBI-C) was utilized for the assessment and diagnosis of MBI, and a score of MBI-C ≥ 6.5 was considered indicative of the condition. Fasting venous blood samples were collected from 70 patients, 32 HOAs and 38 MCIs, and levels of amyloid β-protein (Aβ) 40, Aβ42, and hyperphosphorylated tau (p-Tau217) in these samples were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

RESULTS

The prevalence of MBI in the HOAs and MCI groups was 4.4% and 15.3%, respectively (χ2 = 7.262, P = 0.007), with particularly notable decreases in motivation and increases in impulse dyscontrol (the highest detection rate) and social inappropriateness (P < 0.05). The total MBI score correlated with Aβ42 and p-Tau217 (r = -0.385, P = 0.019; r = -0.330, P = 0.041), but not with Aβ40 or the Aβ42/40 ratio. Among the subdomains, impulse dyscontrol was correlated with Aβ42 (r = -0.401, P = 0.025).

CONCLUSION

Both MCI and HOAs have exhibited a higher prevalence of MBI, with changes in impulse control behavior being the most common. MBI not only presents as an independent risk factor for cognitive decline but is also linked with AD-related peripheral biomarkers.

Keywords: Mild cognitive impairment; Mild behavioral impairment; Alzheimer’s disease; Neuropsychiatric symptom; Amyloid β-protein 42; P-tau

Core Tip: Both mild cognitive impairment and healthy older adults have shown a higher prevalence of mild behavioral impairment (MBI), with changes in impulse control behavior being the most common. MBI not only stands as an independent risk factor for cognitive decline but is also associated with Alzheimer’s disease-related peripheral biomarkers.