Spatial abilities in aging adults with Down syndrome.

Age effects were found in visuomotor integration but not in visuospatial construction in adults with Down syndrome.

• 376 DS participants from the Alzheimer's Biomarkers Consortium-Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) project dataset completed a series of cognitive measures.
• Visuomotor integration showed significant decline with increasing age.
• Visuospatial construction abilities did not show significant age-related effects.
• This suggests differential sensitivity of the two spatial ability domains to aging in DS.

Both visuospatial construction and visuomotor integration declined with AD progression in adults with Down syndrome.

• Participants were categorized as cognitively stable (CS), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or AD.
• Both spatial abilities showed measurable decline across the stages of cognitive progression from CS to MCI to AD.
• Decline was observed in both visuospatial construction and visuomotor integration as AD progressed.

Both spatial abilities showed poor discrimination between cognitively stable and MCI, and between MCI and AD, but excellent or acceptable discrimination between cognitively stable and AD.

• Discrimination between CS and MCI was relatively poor for both visuospatial construction and visuomotor integration.
• Discrimination between MCI and AD was also relatively poor for both abilities.
• Both abilities showed 'excellent or acceptable discrimination between CS and AD.'
• Visuospatial construction showed better discrimination than visuomotor integration overall.

Block Design had the highest predictive power in distinguishing cognitive stability from AD in adults with Down syndrome.

• Block Design is a measure of visuospatial construction ability.
• Among the spatial tasks examined, Block Design outperformed other measures in CS vs. AD discrimination.
• This finding highlights Block Design as the strongest single spatial predictor of AD status in DS.

Neither spatial ability measure alone may effectively diagnose cognitive decline in Down syndrome.

• The poor discrimination between CS and MCI and between MCI and AD indicates limited clinical utility for early detection when spatial tasks are used alone.
• The authors concluded that 'when used alone, neither may effectively diagnose cognitive decline in DS.'
• The study used the ABC-DS project dataset with 376 DS participants.