Spatial abilities in aging adults with Down syndrome

INTRODUCTION: People with Down syndrome (DS) have a higher likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Deficits in spatial abilities could serve as early indicators of AD. We examined age effects on visuospatial construction and visuomotor integration in DS and whether spatial tasks could distinguish various extents of cognitive decline in DS. METHODS: We used the Alzheimer's Biomarkers Consortium–Down Syndrome project dataset, where 376 DS participants completed a series of cognitive measures. RESULTS: Age effects were found in visuomotor integration but not in visuospatial construction. Both abilities declined with AD progression. While both abilities showed relatively poor discrimination between cognitively stable (CS) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and between MCI and AD, they showed excellent or acceptable discrimination between CS and AD. Visuospatial construction showed better discrimination than visuomotor integration. DISCUSSION: Visuomotor integration declines more with aging than visuospatial construction in DS. When used alone, neither may effectively diagnose cognitive decline in DS. Highlights: We examined two spatial abilities in aging adults with Down syndrome using the ABC-DS project. Age effects were found in visuomotor integration. Age effects were not found in visuospatial construction abilities. Both visuomotor integration and visuospatial construction abilities distinguished between CS and AD in people with DS. Block Design had the highest predictive power in distinguishing cognitive stability from AD.