Alzheimer's Disease is a highly progressive neurological disorder characterized by accumulation of amyloid plaques and Tau protein in the brain. One of the most notable effects of Alzheimer's Disease is the loss of gray matter volume in the brain, contributing to decline in memory processing and cognitive function.
Many modifiable and nonmodifiable environmental factors have been studied in recent years, that are hypothesized to contribute to the onset and prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease. Amongst these factors include cardiorespiratory fitness, and adiposity. Research has shown that lack of physical activity, and increase in adiposity affect oxygen delivery to the brain, and causes increased risk of cognitive impairment. However, increased levels of physical activity and lower adiposity is reported to preserve gray matter volume in the brain.
In 2012, the United States alone presented with approximately 4.5-5.4 million cases of Alzheimer's Disease, with a worldwide prevalence of approximately 26.6 million cases. It is projected that the prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease will only increase. Therefore, it is important to study which factors may impact the development of such a disease, in order to find preventative measures. As individuals are also becoming increasingly sedentary, and obesity rates are increasing, studying the correlation between physical activity, adiposity, and Alzheimer's Disease would be vital in determining ways to prevent this devastating neurological disease.
Further information about these impacts of Alzheimer's Disease and cardiorespiratory fitness can be found through the following literature:
This project utilizes a dataset found on Harvard Dataverse, that includes data from the "Alzheimer's Disease Exercise Program Trial", a clinical trial attempting to find how exercise impacts Alzheimer's Disease. Using Python, the data of interest will be extracted from the dataset, and will be used to complete a correlational study.
# Loading and Showing Dataset
import pandas as pd
alzheimers_df = pd.read_csv('ADEPT_Data.csv')
alzheimers_df
| IDn | Timepoint | Arm | E4carrier | CDR_Sum_BL | GLOBALCDR_BL | Age | Sex | Edu | DurationPct | ... | Stroop_Interfer_Task | Letter_Number | SRT_Free_Total | Verb_Animal | Verb_Vegetable | Max_VO2_mL | MMSE | TotalGrayVol | B_Hippocampus | Six_Min_Walk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 11969-001 | Baseline | ST | Carrier | 3.5 | 0.5 | 75.6 | Female | 18 | 0.96 | ... | 40.0 | 8.0 | 5.0 | 14.0 | 8.0 | 15.8 | 25.0 | 493356.6549 | 4569.2 | 581.0 |
| 1 | 11969-001 | Week_13 | ST | Carrier | NaN | NaN | 75.6 | Female | 18 | 0.96 | ... | 44.0 | 9.0 | 4.0 | 16.0 | 7.0 | NaN | 24.0 | NaN | NaN | NaN |
| 2 | 11969-001 | Week_26 | ST | Carrier | NaN | NaN | 75.6 | Female | 18 | 0.96 | ... | 49.0 | 9.0 | 7.0 | 19.0 | 10.0 | 19.4 | 25.0 | 514883.3306 | 4603.4 | 587.0 |
| 3 | 11969-003 | Baseline | ST | Carrier | 5.0 | 1.0 | 83.6 | Female | 18 | 0.79 | ... | 15.0 | 2.0 | 12.0 | 9.0 | 5.0 | 16.9 | 23.0 | 464126.6173 | 5041.4 | 395.0 |
| 4 | 11969-003 | Week_13 | ST | Carrier | NaN | NaN | 83.6 | Female | 18 | 0.79 | ... | 18.0 | 1.0 | 8.0 | 16.0 | 9.0 | NaN | 26.0 | NaN | NaN | NaN |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 223 | 11969-109 | Week_13 | ST | Carrier | NaN | NaN | 84.5 | Male | 18 | 0.40 | ... | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN |
| 224 | 11969-109 | Week_26 | ST | Carrier | NaN | NaN | 84.5 | Male | 18 | 0.40 | ... | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN | NaN | 16.8 | NaN | 601744.6056 | 7102.0 | 217.0 |
| 225 | 11969-112 | Baseline | AEx | No_E4 | 8.0 | 1.0 | 77.9 | Male | 16 | 0.44 | ... | 22.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 14.0 | 10.0 | 13.9 | 27.0 | 562787.6559 | 4972.0 | 342.0 |
| 226 | 11969-112 | Week_13 | AEx | No_E4 | NaN | NaN | 77.9 | Male | 16 | 0.44 | ... | 22.0 | 6.0 | 10.0 | 13.0 | 7.0 | NaN | 26.0 | NaN | NaN | NaN |
| 227 | 11969-112 | Week_26 | AEx | No_E4 | NaN | NaN | 77.9 | Male | 16 | 0.44 | ... | 2.0 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 14.0 | 8.0 | 14.9 | 25.0 | 559959.8920 | 4834.4 | 400.0 |
228 rows × 31 columns
The Data Dictionary below shows a brief description of what each column in the Dataset means. For the purposes of this project, not all columns will be utilized. However, columns such as TotalGrayVol, MaxVO2_ml, BodyMass, and Lean_Mass will be of most importance. This is because TotalGrayVol is representative of each participant's total gray matter as they progress through the study; BodyMass and Lean_Mass are measures of adiposity, similar to Body Mass Index; MaxVO2_ml is representative of each participant's VO2 max score, which is a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness. These columns will mainly be used to find correlational data between each other. For instance, determining of VO2 max scores are proportional to the amount of gray matter volume.
| Column | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| IDn | String | Participant ID Number |
| Timepoint | String | Timepoint of Measurement |
| Arms | String | Intervention Arm |
| E4 Carrier | String | APOE e4 Carrier Status |
| CDR_Sum_BL | Float | Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes at Baseline |
| GLOBALCDR_BL | Float | Clinical Dementia Rating Global Score at Baselin |
| Age | Float | Age in years |
| Sex | String | Sex |
| Edu | Integer | Education in years |
| DurationPct | Float | Percentage of prescribed exercise completed by participant |
| BodyMass | Float | Total body mass in kg |
| Lean_Mass | Float | Lean body mass in kg |
| CSD | Integer | Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia |
| DAD_Assess_Total | Integer | Disability Assessment for Dementia Total Score |
| DAD.NA | Integer | Disability Assessment for Dementia not available items |
| Log_Mem | Integer | Logical Memory test |
| Delay_Memr | Integer | Delayed Logical Memory test |
| Digit_Back | Integer | WAIS Digit Span Backward task |
| Digit_Forw | Integer | WAIS Digit Span Forward task |
| DKEFS_CP | Integer | DKEFS Confirmed Perceptual Card Sorts sum of card set 1 and 2 |
| DKEFS_FS | Integer | DKEFS Free Card Sorts sum of card set 1 and 2 |
| Stroop_Interfer_Task | Integer | Stroop Interference task |
| Letter_Number | Integer | Letter Number sequencing task |
| SRT_Free_Total | Integer | Serial Reminding Task sum of 3 free recall attempts |
| Verb_Animal | Integer | Verbal Fluency - Animal Naming |
| Verb_Vegetable | Integer | Verbal Fluency - Vegetable Naming |
| Max_VO2_ml | Float | Maximal oxygen consumption during a graded exercise test in mL/kg body mass/minute |
| MMSE | Integer | Mini-mental State Exam |
| TotalGrayVol | Float | Total gray matter volume in mL |
| B_Hippocampus | Float | Bilateral hippocampal volume in mL |
| Six_Min_Walk | Integer | Six-minute Walk Test in yards |
We will cluster the data by participant, as this dataset dedicates three rows per participant. Doing so allows us to track how the participant's volume of grey matter may have improved or depreciated over the course of the study. Then, we can use this to discover how exercise has impacted each individual participant, while also being able to take a "grand mean" of all of the data to see how exercise has impacted Alzheimer's Disease throughout all participants.