Elevated brain amyloid level associated with increased likelihood of cognitive decline
Michael C. Donohue, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California's Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute, San Diego, and colleagues conducted a study to characterize and quantify the risk for Alzheimer-related cognitive decline among cognitively normal individuals with elevated brain amyloid, as measured by cerebrospinal fluid or positron emission tomography. Analyses were conducted with cognitive and biomarker (amyloid) data from 445 cognitively normal individuals who were observed for a median of 3.1 years (maximum follow-up, 10.3 years) as part of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Among the participants (243 with normal amyloid, 202 with elevated amyloid), the average age was 74 years. The researchers found that compared with the group with normal amyloid, those with elevated amyloid had worse average scores at four years on measures of cognitive function. "Even though the interpretation was influenced by the small percentage of p...