title: Computerized Cognitive Tests Are Associated with Biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease in Cognitively Normal Individuals 10 Years Prior.
abstract: Evidence suggests that Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers become abnormal many years before the emergence of clinical symptoms of AD, raising the possibility that biomarker levels measured in cognitively normal individuals would be associated with cognitive performance many years later. This study examined whether performance on computerized cognitive tests is associated with levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of amyloid, tau, and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) obtained approximately 10 years earlier, when individuals were cognitively normal and primarily middle-aged.
  
  
  
  Individuals from the BIOCARD cohort (mean age at testing=69 years) were tested on two computerized tasks hypothesized to rely on brain regions affected by the early accumulation of AD pathology: (1) a Paired Associates Learning (PAL) task (n=67) and (2) a visual search task (n=86).
  
  
  
  In regression analyses, poorer performance on the PAL task was associated with higher levels of CSF p-tau obtained years earlier, whereas worse performance in the visual search task was associated with lower levels of CSF Aβ1-42.
  
  
  
  These findings suggest that AD biomarker levels may be differentially predictive of specific cognitive functions many years later. In line with the pattern of early accumulation of AD pathology, the PAL task, hypothesized to rely on medial temporal lobe function, was associated with CSF p-tau, whereas the visual search task, hypothesized to rely on frontoparietal function, was associated with CSF amyloid. Studies using amyloid and tau PET imaging will be useful in examining these hypothesized relationships further. (JINS, 2016, 22, 968-977).
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology,The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6193-0418
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soldan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology,The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pettigrew
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology,The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Abhay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moghekar
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology,The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albert
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D062706:Prodromal Symptoms; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Amyloid; Cerebrospinal fluid; Cognition; Memory; Phosphorylated tau; Preclinical; Visual perception