TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations between tau, Aβ, and cortical thickness with cognition in Alzheimer disease
AU - Ossenkoppele, Rik
AU - Smith, Ruben
AU - Ohlsson, Tomas
AU - Strandberg, Olof
AU - Mattsson, Niklas
AU - Insel, Philip S.
AU - Palmqvist, Sebastian
AU - Hansson, Oskar
PY - 2019/2/5
Y1 - 2019/2/5
N2 - Objective To examine the cross-sectional associations between regional tau, β-amyloid (Aβ), and cortical thickness and neuropsychological function across the preclinical and clinical spectrum of Alzheimer disease (AD).MethodsWe included 106 participants from the Swedish Biomarkers for Identifying Neurodegenerative Disorders Early and Reliably (BioFINDER) study, of whom 33 had preclinical AD (Aβ-positive cognitively normal individuals), 25 had prodromal AD (Aβ-positive mild cognitive impairment), and 48 had probable AD dementia. All underwent [18F]flortaucipir (tau) and structural MRI (cortical thickness), and 88 of 106 underwent [18F]flutemetamol (Aβ) PET. Linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, and education were performed to examine associations between 7 regions of interest and 7 neuropsychological tests for all 3 imaging modalities.ResultsIn preclinical AD, [18F]flortaucipir, but not [18F]flutemetamol or cortical thickness, was associated with decreased global cognition, memory, and processing speed (range standardized β = 0.35-0.52, p < 0.05 uncorrected for multiple comparisons). In the combined prodromal AD and AD dementia group, both increased [18F]flortaucipir uptake and reduced cortical thickness were associated with worse performance on a variety of neuropsychological tests (most regions of interest survived correction for multiple comparisons at p < 0.05), while increased [18F]flutemetamol uptake was specifically associated with lower scores on a delayed recall memory task (p < 0.05 uncorrected for multiple comparisons). The strongest effects for both [18F]flortaucipir and cortical thickness on cognition were found in the lateral and medial parietal cortex and lateral temporal cortex. The effect of [18F]flutemetamol on cognition was generally weaker and less region specific.ConclusionOur findings suggest that tau PET is more sensitive than Aβ PET and measures of cortical thickness for detecting early cognitive changes in preclinical AD. Furthermore, both [18F]flortaucipir PET and cortical thickness show strong cognitive correlates at the clinical stages of AD.
AB - Objective To examine the cross-sectional associations between regional tau, β-amyloid (Aβ), and cortical thickness and neuropsychological function across the preclinical and clinical spectrum of Alzheimer disease (AD).MethodsWe included 106 participants from the Swedish Biomarkers for Identifying Neurodegenerative Disorders Early and Reliably (BioFINDER) study, of whom 33 had preclinical AD (Aβ-positive cognitively normal individuals), 25 had prodromal AD (Aβ-positive mild cognitive impairment), and 48 had probable AD dementia. All underwent [18F]flortaucipir (tau) and structural MRI (cortical thickness), and 88 of 106 underwent [18F]flutemetamol (Aβ) PET. Linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, and education were performed to examine associations between 7 regions of interest and 7 neuropsychological tests for all 3 imaging modalities.ResultsIn preclinical AD, [18F]flortaucipir, but not [18F]flutemetamol or cortical thickness, was associated with decreased global cognition, memory, and processing speed (range standardized β = 0.35-0.52, p < 0.05 uncorrected for multiple comparisons). In the combined prodromal AD and AD dementia group, both increased [18F]flortaucipir uptake and reduced cortical thickness were associated with worse performance on a variety of neuropsychological tests (most regions of interest survived correction for multiple comparisons at p < 0.05), while increased [18F]flutemetamol uptake was specifically associated with lower scores on a delayed recall memory task (p < 0.05 uncorrected for multiple comparisons). The strongest effects for both [18F]flortaucipir and cortical thickness on cognition were found in the lateral and medial parietal cortex and lateral temporal cortex. The effect of [18F]flutemetamol on cognition was generally weaker and less region specific.ConclusionOur findings suggest that tau PET is more sensitive than Aβ PET and measures of cortical thickness for detecting early cognitive changes in preclinical AD. Furthermore, both [18F]flortaucipir PET and cortical thickness show strong cognitive correlates at the clinical stages of AD.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85061155657&origin=inward
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30626656
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000006875
DO - https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000006875
M3 - Article
C2 - 30626656
SN - 0028-3878
VL - 92
SP - e601-e612
JO - Neurology
JF - Neurology
IS - 6
ER -