Amyloid PET and cognitive decline in cognitively normal individuals: the SCIENCe project

We examined the relationships between amyloid-beta PET and concurrent and longitudinal cognitive performance in 107 cognitively normal individuals with subjective cognitive decline (age: 64 +/- 8 years, 44% female, Mini-Mental State Examination score 29 +/- 1). All underwent 90-minute dynamic [F-18]florbetapir PET scanning and longitudinal neuropsychological tests with a mean follow-up of 3.4 +/- 3.0 years. Receptor parametric mapping was used to calculate [F-18]florbetapir binding potential (BP ND ), and we performed linear mixed models to assess the relationships between global [F-18]florbetapir BPND and neuropsychological performance. Higher [F-18]florbetapir BPND was related to lower concurrent Mini-Mental State Examination (beta +/- SE: -1.69 +/- 0.63 p < 0.01) and to steeper rate of decline on tasks capturing memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Task immediate [13 +/- SE -1.81 +/- 0.81, p < 0.05] and delayed recall [beta +/- SE -1.19 +/- 0.34, p < 0.011), attention/executive functions (Stroop II [color] [beta +/- SE -0.02 +/- 0.01, p < 0.05], Stroop III [word-color] [beta +/- SE -0.03 +/- 0.02, p < 0.051), and language (category fluency [beta +/- SE -0.04 +/- 0.01, p < 0.01]). These findings suggest that higher amyloid-beta load in cognitively normal individuals with subjective cognitive decline from a memory clinic is associated with lower concurrent global cognition and with faster rate of decline in a variety of cognitive domains. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.