Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
Archival ReportPlasma Cortisol, Brain Amyloid-β, and Cognitive Decline in Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease: A 6-Year Prospective Cohort Study
Section snippets
Methods And Materials
CN older adults (n = 416) enrolled in the AIBL study (30) underwent Aβ neuroimaging and provided a blood sample to assess plasma cortisol levels. Selection into the full AIBL cohort was controlled to ensure 1) a wide age distribution from 60 years through to 100 years and 2) enrollment of approximately 50% of individuals with subjective memory complaints. Exclusion criteria for the CN older adult cohort were diagnosis of schizophrenia, depression (score ≥6 on the Geriatric Depression Scale
Results
Of the 416 CN older adults who completed the baseline assessment, 402 (96.6%), 389 (93.5%), 379 (91.1%), and 347 (83.4%) completed 18-, 36-, 54-, and 72-month follow-ups, respectively. Table 1 shows characteristics of the full sample and the sample stratified according to cortisol and Aβ status at the baseline assessment. Compared with the low-cortisol/Aβ− and high-cortisol/Aβ− groups, the low-cortisol/Aβ+ and high-cortisol/Aβ+ groups were older and more likely to be APOE ε4 allele carriers. No
Discussion
Results of this study supported our hypothesis that Aβ+ would be associated with greater cognitive decline, and that high plasma cortisol levels would moderate cognitive decline related to Aβ+, such that Aβ+ CN older adults with high plasma cortisol levels would have greater rates of decline in cognitive function compared with Aβ+ CN older adults with low plasma cortisol levels. By convention (41), the combined effect of high cortisol level and Aβ+ was moderate in magnitude for episodic memory
Acknowledgments And Disclosures
The Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study was supported in part by the study partners (Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and Research Organization, Edith Cowan University, Mental Health Research institute, National Ageing Research Institute, Austin Health, CogState Ltd.). The study also was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Dementia Collaborative Research Centres program; the Science and Industry Endowment Fund; Cooperative
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RHP and SML are joint first authors. PM and RNM are joint senior authors.