Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease among the elderly with a progressive decline in cognitive function significantly affecting quality of life. Both the prevalence and emotional and financial burdens of AD on patients, their families, and society are predicted to grow significantly in the near future, due to a prolongation of the lifespan. Several lines of evidence suggest that modifications of risk-enhancing life styles and initiation of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments in the early stage of disease, although not able to modify its course, helps to maintain personal autonomy in daily activities and significantly reduces the total costs of disease management. Moreover, many clinical trials with potentially disease-modifying drugs are devoted to prodromal stages of AD. Thus, the identification of markers of conversion from prodromal form to clinically AD may be crucial for developing strategies of early interventions. The current available markers, including volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) analysis are expensive, poorly available in community health facilities, and relatively invasive. Taking into account its low cost, widespread availability and non-invasiveness, electroencephalography (EEG) would represent a candidate for tracking the prodromal phases of cognitive decline in routine clinical settings eventually in combination with other markers. In this scenario, the present paper provides an overview of epidemiology, genetic risk factors, neuropsychological, fluid and neuroimaging biomarkers in AD and describes the potential role of EEG in AD investigation, trying in particular to point out whether advanced analysis of EEG rhythms exploring brain function has sufficient specificity/sensitivity/accuracy for the early diagnosis of AD.

中文翻译：

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阿尔茨海默病的早期诊断：包括高级 EEG 信号分析在内的生物标志物的作用。由 IFCN 赞助的专家小组

阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 是老年人中最常见的神经退行性疾病，认知功能逐渐下降，显着影响生活质量。由于寿命的延长，预计在不久的将来，AD 的患病率以及患者、他们的家人和社会的情感和经济负担都会显着增加。若干证据表明，在疾病早期改变增加风险的生活方式并开始药物和非药物治疗，虽然不能改变其病程，但有助于在日常活动中保持个人自主权，并显着减少总疾病管理费用。此外，许多使用潜在疾病缓解药物的临床试验都致力于 AD 的前驱阶段。因此，识别从前驱型到临床 AD 的转化标志物对于制定早期干预策略至关重要。当前可用的标记物，包括体积磁共振成像 (MRI)、正电子发射断层扫描 (PET) 和脑脊液 (CSF) 分析，价格昂贵，在社区卫生机构中难以获得，并且相对侵入性。考虑到其低成本、广泛的可用性和非侵入性，脑电图 (EEG) 将代表最终与其他标志物结合起来跟踪常规临床环境中认知衰退的前驱阶段的候选者。在这种情况下，本文概述了流行病学、遗传风险因素、神经心理学、