Dataset Information

Increased variability in reaction time is associated with amyloid beta pathology at age 70.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

We investigated whether life-course factors and neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease pathology predict reaction time (RT) performance in older adults.

Methods

Insight 46 study participants, all born in the same week in 1946 (n = 501; ages at assessment = 69 to 71 years), completed a 2-choice RT task and amyloid beta (Aβ) positron emission tomography and MR imaging. We tested for associations between task outcomes (RT; error rate; intra-individual variability in RT) and life-course predictors including childhood cognitive ability and education. In a subsample of 406 cognitively normal participants, we investigated associations between task outcomes and biomarkers including Aβ-positivity.

Results

Cognitively normal Aβ-positive participants had 10% more variable RTs than Aβ-negative participants, despite having similar mean RTs. Childhood cognitive ability and education independently predicted task performance.

Discussion

This study provides novel evidence that Aβ pathology is associated with poorer consistency of RT in cognitively normal older adults, at an age when dementia prevalence is still very low.

SUBMITTER: Lu K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7416668 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Increased variability in reaction time is associated with amyloid beta pathology at age 70.

Lu Kirsty K Nicholas Jennifer M JM James Sarah-Naomi SN Lane Christopher A CA Parker Thomas D TD Keshavan Ashvini A Keuss Sarah E SE Buchanan Sarah M SM Murray-Smith Heidi H Cash David M DM Sudre Carole H CH Malone Ian B IB Coath William W Wong Andrew A Henley Susie M D SMD Fox Nick C NC Richards Marcus M Schott Jonathan M JM Crutch Sebastian J SJ

Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 20200810 1

<h4>Introduction</h4>We investigated whether life-course factors and neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease pathology predict reaction time (RT) performance in older adults.<h4>Methods</h4>Insight 46 study participants, all born in the same week in 1946 (n = 501; ages at assessment = 69 to 71 years), completed a 2-choice RT task and amyloid beta (Aβ) positron emission tomography and MR imaging. We tested for associations between task outcomes (RT; error rate; intra-individual variability ...[more]

PMID: 32789161

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Project description:ImportanceThe effect of β-amyloid (Aβ) accumulation on regional structural brain changes in early stages of Alzheimer disease (AD) is not well understood.ObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that the development of Aβ pathology is related to increased regional atrophy in the brains of cognitively normal (CN) persons.Design, setting, and participantsLongitudinal clinicobiomarker cohort study involving 47 CN control subjects and 15 patients with AD dementia. All participants underwent repeated cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 and structural magnetic resonance imaging measurements for up to 4 years. Cognitively normal controls were classified using the longitudinal cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 data and included 13 stable Aβ negative (normal baseline Aβ42 levels, with less than the median reduction over time), 13 declining Aβ negative (normal baseline Aβ42 levels, with greater than the median reduction over time), and 21 Aβ positive (pathologic baseline Aβ42 levels). All 15 patients with AD dementia were Aβ positive.Main outcomes and measuresGroup effects on regional gray matter volumes at baseline and over time, tested by linear mixed-effects models.ResultsBaseline gray matter volumes were similar among the CN Aβ groups, but atrophy rates were increased in frontoparietal regions in the declining Aβ-negative and Aβ-positive groups and in amygdala and temporal regions in the Aβ-positive group. Aβ-positive patients with AD dementia had further increased atrophy rates in hippocampus and temporal and cingulate regions.Conclusions and relevanceEmerging Aβ pathology is coupled to increased frontoparietal (but not temporal) atrophy rates. Atrophy rates peak early in frontoparietal regions but accelerate in hippocampus, temporal, and cingulate regions as the disease progresses to dementia. Early-stage Aβ pathology may have mild effects on local frontoparietal cortical integrity while effects in temporal regions appear later and accelerate, leading to the atrophy pattern typically seen in AD.

Dataset Information

Increased variability in reaction time is associated with amyloid beta pathology at age 70.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Publications

Increased variability in reaction time is associated with amyloid beta pathology at age 70.

Similar Datasets

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