Susan Landau, Peiwei Liu, Theresa M. Harrison, Jacinda Taggett, Tyler J. Ward, Alice Murphy, Samuel N. Lockhart, Laura Lovato, Robert Koeppe, Sarah Tomaszewski Farias, Kathryn V. Papp, Heather M. Snyder, Danielle Harvey, Mark A. Espeland, Pauline Maillard, Charles DeCarli, Prashanthi Vemuri, Michael W. Weiner, Laura D. Baker, William J. Jagust, U.S. POINTER Study Group and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Abstract INTRODUCTION To examine the generalizability of Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarker models in real‐world older adults, we examined AD biomarker relationships with cognition in two multicenter cohorts that differ with respect to recruitment approach and health risk factors but were matched on a variety of characteristics. METHODS We compared harmonized health and demographic data, AD and cerebrovascular biomarkers, and cognitive performance in the community‐recruited U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) Imaging substudy and a matched sample from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) which recruited primarily from academic specialty clinics. RESULTS Elevated β‐amyloid (Aβ) and tau were associated with cognitive performance in ADNI but not U.S. POINTER. Findings were consistent across different cohort matching schemes, and were not explained by discrepancies in vascular risk. DISCUSSION The role of Aβ and tau in cognitive performance may be reduced in real world samples compared to academic specialty clinics.