Table 3 Study characteristics and main findings of included studies

McKeith et al ., 1992 [[20]]

AD 37

Baseline and late stage

MTS

No significant difference

MTS baseline

m/f 13/24

AD 15.9 (1.8)

y 74.7 (0.9)

SDLT 24.5 (1.7)

SDLT 21

MTS late stage

m/f 12/9

AD 9.3 (2.1)

y 73.3 (1.6)

SDLT 18.2 (2.3)

Ballard et al ., 1996 [[17]]

AD 53

1 y

CAMCOG

SDLT faster decline of verbal fluency

Scores for subtests n/a

m/f, n/a

Y, n/a

CAMCOG total, baseline

SDLT 7

AD 42.7 (17.9)

SDLT 47.7 (18.0)

m/f, n/a

CAMCOG mean annual decline

Y, n/a

VaD 14

AD 13.2 (12.6)

m/f, n/a

SDLT 27.0 (19.8)

Y, n/a

Ballard et al ., 1998 [[21]]

AD 30

1 y

MMSE

No significant difference

MMSE baseline

m/f 9/21

AD 13.9

DLB 14.9

y 81.7

MMSE mean annual decline

DLB 42

AD 4.1

m/f 19/24

DLB 3.9

y 73.6

Olichney et al ., 1998 [[3]]

AD 148

Mean 3 y

MMSE

LBV faster decline

MMSE baseline

m/f 80/68

y 74.0 (7.9)

AD 17.8 (6.0)

LBV 40

LBV 18.2 (5.5)

m/f 25/15

MMSE 1 y (n = 136/35)

y 72.4 (6.5)

AD 14.3 (7.2)

LBV 12.5 (7.5)

MMSE 2 y (n = 93/17)

AD 12.3 (7.9)

LBV 8.1 (6.3)

MMSE 3 y (n = 59/12)

AD 10.1 (8.4)

LBV 4.5 (6.5)

MMSE 4 y (n = 35/4)

AD 9.1 (7.9)

LBV 2.5 (3.0)

MMSE mean annual decline

AD 4.1 (3.0)

LBV 5.8 (4.5)

Heyman et al ., 1999 [[18]]

AD 74

Annual controls

CERAD (including CDT, calculation test, serial subtraction, CDR, BNT, MMSE, 10-item word list memory, recall and recognition, constructional praxis, two of the six items of the orientation-memory-concentration test)

AD faster decline in delayed recall

32% of LBV versus 15% of AD remembered any item on word list recall at last evaluation

m/f 47/27

y 41% >74 y

AD/LBV 27

m/f 14/13

y 37% >74 y

Lopez et al ., 2000 [[22]]

AD 98

Mean 59 months

MMSE

No significant difference

MMSE baseline

m/f 50/48

y 70.8 (9.4)

AD 16.0 (6.5)

AD/DLB 44

AD/DLB 16.2 (5.1)

m/f 20/24

y 72.3 (6.0)

Stern et al ., 2001 [[23]]

AD 32

Annual controls, longest 9.9 y

mMMSE (including WAIS-R digit span forward, backward, attention, calculation, general knowledge, language, construction), CDR

No significant difference

mMMSE baseline

m/f 16/16

AD 36.7 (6.3)

y 73.0 (9.0)

LBV 37.3 (6.2)

LBV 19

mMMSE mean annual decline 3.6 (both groups)

m/f 17/2

y 73.6 (6.8)

Ballard et al ., 2001 [[24]]

AD 101

1y

MMSE, CAMCOG

No significant difference

MMSE n = 203

m/f 30/71

MMSE baseline

probable AD 61 m/f 17/44

prob AD 17.7 (5.1)

poss AD 17.2 (5.2)

y 81.9 (4.8)

DLB 15.6 (7.0)

possible AD 40

MMSE mean annual decline

m/f 13/27

y 79.0 (7.8)

AD 4.9 (3.6)

DLB 64

DLB 4.3 (4.2)

m/f 26/38

CAMCOG n = 154

Baseline 57.5 (18.8)

y 76.6 (7.7)

VaD 38

CAMCOG mean annual decline

m/f 22/16

y 76.8 (7.7)

Probable AD 15.0 (10.1)

Possible AD 14.4 (9.8)

DLB 11.9 (12.2)

Helmes et al ., 2003 [[25]]

AD 15

50 months

ESD

No significant difference

Scores n/a

m/f 9/6

y 70.3 (7.6)

AD/DLB 8

m/f 5/3

y 69.3 (11.2)

DLB 7

m/f 5/2

y 69.1 (4.1)

Johnson et al ., 2005 [[26]]

AD 66

Annual controls,

WMS (digits forward, backward, logical memory and associate learning), BVRT, word fluency, BNT, WAIS (Digit Symbol and Block Design), TMT A, Crossing Off, CDR

No significant difference

Follow-up scores n/a. For baseline scores for all tests see article

m/f 39/27

1 to 20 assessments

y 77.0 (8.1)

AD/DLB 57

m/f 31/26

y 75.2 (9.7)

DLB 9

m/f 8/1, age 72.6 (5.7)

Kraybill et al ., 2005 [[15]]

AD 48

Annual controls

MMSE, DRS

AD/LBP faster decline than AD and LBP

MMSE baseline

m/f 18/30

AD 20.6 (3.9)

y at onset 77.5

AD/LBP 20.7 (3.7)

(7.34)

LBP 20.7 (3.8)

AD/LBP 65

MMSE mean annual decline

m/f 24/41

AD 3.5 (0.4)

y at onset 74.8 (6.6)

AD/LBP 5.0 (0.5)

LBP 3.4 (0.7)

LBP 22

DRS baseline

m/f 16/6

AD 114.7 (2.1)

y at onset 76.5 (5.3)

AD/LBP 114.2 (1.8)

LBP 114.2 (2.7)

DRS mean annual decline

AD 9.6 (1.5)

AD/LBP 15.3 (1.9)

LBP 8.8 (1.7)

Stavitsky et al ., 2006 [[19]]

AD 55

Mean 3 y

mMMSE (incl WAIS-R digit Span forward, backward, attention, calculation, general knowledge, language, construction), HVLT-R

AD faster decline on recognition.

mMMSE baseline

m/f 21/34

AD 39.0 (7.6)

DLB 38.1 (8.3)

y 73.1 (8.3)

HVLT-R n/a

DLB 28

m/f 19/9

y 73.5 (7.6)

Williams et al ., 2006 [[27]]

AD 252

< 5 y

MMSE, CDR, WMS (mental control, logical memory, digit span forward and backward, associate learning), BVRT, WAIS (information, digit symbol, block design), word fluency, BNT, Crossing off, TMT A

No significant difference.

Scores n/a

m/f 95/157

y 77.8 (9.5)

DLB 63

m/f 38/25

y 73.5 (8.7)

Hamilton et al ., 2008 [[28]]

AD 44

2 y

DRS, WISC-R (block design), CDT copy, BNT

Poor baseline visuospatial skills (block design <20, CDT copy <3) were strongly associated with faster decline in DLB, but not AD.

DRS baseline

m/f 20/24

AD 114.4 (15.4)

y 72.0 (5.6)

DLB 109.5 (11.4)

DLB 22

DRS 1 y mean decline

m/f 14/8

y 73.4 (6.2)

AD 7.9 (11.6)

DLB 17 (24.2)

DRS 2 y mean decline

AD 23.9 (24.7)

DLB 39.3 (35.1)

Other scores n/a

Hanyu et al ., 2009 [[29]]

AD 111

5 y

MMSE

No significant difference

MMSE

m/f 37/74

Baseline n = 111/56

y 77.5 (6.2)

AD 20.3 (3.7)

DLB 56

DLB 20.7 (3.8)

m/f 30/26

1 y n = 111/56

y 78.1 (5.2)

AD 19.4 (4.8)

DLB 20.5 (4.2)

2 y n = 102/40

AD 17.7 (5.2)

DLB 18.0 (4.8)

3 y n = 72/25

AD 16.2 (5.0)

DLB 17.0 (5.3)

4 y n = 51/19

AD 14.2 (4.5)

DLB 13.4 (4.0)

5 y n = 16/5

AD 11.4 (5.2)

DLB 10.6 (4.0)

Nelson et al ., 2009 [[16]]

AD 107

Mean 4 y

MMSE

AD/DLB had a faster decline than DLB and AD.

MMSE baseline n/a

m/f n/a

MMSE final

y n/a

AD 10.7 (8.6)

AD/DLB 27

AD/DLB 10.6 (8.6)

m/f n/a

DLB 15.6 (8.7)

y n/a

DLB 9

m/f n/a

y n/a

Wood et al ., 2012[30]

AD 16

1 y

MMSE, CAMCOG, NEVIP

No significant difference.

MMSE baseline

m/f 12/4

AD 21.3 (3.2)

y 78.9 (6.1)

DLB 24.5 (3.3)

DLB 10

MMSE decline from baseline

m/f 9/1

y 78.2 (7.4).

AD 2.1 (3.6)

Controls 28

DLB 1.8 (3.1)

m/f 16/12

CAMCOG baseline

y 79.5

AD 71.4 (9.7)

DLB 79.1 (12.0)

CAMCOG decline from baseline

AD 7.4 (10.7)

DLB 4.3 (7.3)

Walker et al ., 2012[31]

AD 100

1 y

MMSE, CAMCOG-R, VOSP, CDR

No significant difference.

MMSE baseline

m/f 48/52

AD 21.5 (4.5)

y 74,9

DLB 21.4 (3.9)

DLB 58

MMSE follow up (n = 81/33)

m/f 37/21

AD 19.0 (6.2)

y 74,2

DLB 18.5 (6.0)

CAMCOG-R baseline

AD 66.3 (15.6)

DLB 66.0 (13.5)

CAMCOG-R follow up

(n = 81/33)

AD 59.6 (20.3)

DLB 56.3 (19.7)