Vascular and Alzheimer's disease contributions to cognitive decline
What is it about?
We assessed whether the combination of having both vascular brain damage (by MRI scans) and accumulation of brain proteins related to Alzheimer's disease (amyloid; measured in cerebrospinal fluid by lumbar punction) was related to cognitive decline over the years, by measuring cognition across different cognitive tasks for global cognition, memory, attention, executive functions, and language. We found that within persons in a memory clinic, the amyloid protein was a major contributor to cognitive decline, while vascular damage had a minor influence. Having both types of pathology did not worsen cognitive decline as compared to only amyloid.
Why is it important?
This research is important to improve prognostic procedures for persons within a memory clinic. It helps to identify factors contributing to cognitive decline and thereby helps predicting disease trajectories.