Initial non-amnestic symptoms relate to faster rate of functional and cognitive decline compared to amnestic symptoms in neuropathologically confirmed dementias.

Initial non-amnestic symptoms had a faster rate of longitudinal cognitive and functional decline on the Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) scores than amnestic symptoms among Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body pathology, and mixed neuropathology. Given the relative size of CDR-SB changes in Alzheimer's disease clinical trials, clarifying the nature of initial symptoms could be an important variable in ensuring appropriately designed clinical trials.