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Cognitive impairment and p-tau217 are high in a vascular patient cohort
Scott R French, Juan C Arias, Summan Zahra, Madeline Ally, Cris Escareno, Emma Heitkamp, Franchell Vazquez, Madison Hillis et al.. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2025-08
Topic: Plasma and spinal-fluid biomarkers
Twenty-nine percent of the cohort had Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores indicative of cognitive impairment or dementia after adjusting for age, sex, and education based on National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center normative data. AD blood biomarker phosphorylated tau217 was elevated in 55% of the cohort, significantly associated with decreased MoCA scores (β = -1.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.53 to -0.39, p < 0.01), and accurately differentiated cognitive impairment (area under the curve 0.94, 95% CI 0.88-0.99). This level of undiagnosed cognitive impairment and AD pathology exceeds what would be expected in the general population and highlights a potential need for screening and future work to better identify treatment options. HIGHLIGHTS: Brain health outcomes are rarely evaluated in vascular patients. One hundred sixty-two adults with asymptomatic cardiovascular disease but without diagnoses of cognitive impairment or dementia were evaluated. Phosphorylated tau217 accurately differentiated cognitive impairment in patients with cardiovascular disease. High levels of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease pathology are greatly underdiagnosed in the cardiovascular population.
Key findings
- Twenty-nine percent of the cohort had Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores indicative of cognitive impairment or dementia after adjusting for age, sex, and education based on National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center normative data.
- AD blood biomarker phosphorylated tau217 was elevated in 55% of the cohort, significantly associated with decreased MoCA scores (β = -1.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.53 to -0.39, p < 0.01), and accurately differentiated cognitive impairment (area under the curve 0.94, 95% CI 0.88-0.99).
- This level of undiagnosed cognitive impairment and AD pathology exceeds what would be expected in the general population and highlights a potential need for screening and future work to better identify treatment options.
- HIGHLIGHTS: Brain health outcomes are rarely evaluated in vascular patients.
- One hundred sixty-two adults with asymptomatic cardiovascular disease but without diagnoses of cognitive impairment or dementia were evaluated.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 50/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 28 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 50 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40772428) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 28 / 56 | Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 28 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 50 out of 100. |
| Total | 50 / 100 | — |
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APA 7th
French, S. R., Arias, J. C., Zahra, S., Ally, M., Escareno, C., Heitkamp, E., et al. (2025). Cognitive impairment and p-tau217 are high in a vascular patient cohort. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70565
Vancouver
French SR, Arias JC, Zahra S, Ally M, Escareno C, Heitkamp E, et al. Cognitive impairment and p-tau217 are high in a vascular patient cohort. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. 2025. doi:10.1002/alz.70565. PMID: 40772428.
BibTeX
@article{french2025-40772428,
author = {French, Scott R and Arias, Juan C and Zahra, Summan and Ally, Madeline and Escareno, Cris and Heitkamp, Emma and Vazquez, Franchell and Hillis, Madison and others},
title = {{Cognitive impairment and p-tau217 are high in a vascular patient cohort}},
journal = {Alzheimer's \& dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1002/alz.70565},
pmid = {40772428},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70565}
}