Home › Research › Brain tissue and pathology
Comorbid neuropathological diagnoses in early versus late-onset Alzheimer's disease
Spina S, La Joie R, Petersen C, Nolan AL, Cuevas D, Cosme C, Hepker M, Hwang JH et al.. Brain : a journal of neurology, 2021-08-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Co-pathologies play an important role in the expression of the Alzheimer's disease clinical phenotype and may influence treatment efficacy. Early-onset Alzheimer's disease, defined as manifesting before age 65, is viewed as a relatively pure form of Alzheimer's disease with a more homogeneous neuropathological substrate. We sought to compare the frequency of common neuropathological diagnoses in a consecutive autopsy series of 96 patients with early-onset Alzheimer's disease (median age of onset = 55 years, 44 females) and 48 with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (median age of onset = 73 years, 14 females).
Key findings
- Early-onset Alzheimer's disease, defined as manifesting before age 65, is viewed as a relatively pure form of Alzheimer's disease with a more homogeneous neuropathological substrate.
- We sought to compare the frequency of common neuropathological diagnoses in a consecutive autopsy series of 96 patients with early-onset Alzheimer's disease (median age of onset = 55 years, 44 females) and 48 with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (median age of onset = 73 years, 14 females).
- The UCSF Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Bank database was reviewed to identify patients with a primary pathological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
- Prevalence and stage of Lewy body disease, limbic age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE), argyrophilic grain disease, hippocampal sclerosis, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, and vascular brain injury were compared between the two cohorts.
Why it matters
This autopsy study compared the frequency of common neuropathological diagnoses in 96 patients with early-onset Alzheimer's disease and 48 with late-onset disease. It describes co-pathology and does not test any treatment.
Study details
- Participants96
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 58/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Brain : a journal of neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Brain: journal h-index 503 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 3 / 5 | 2021 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 96 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 278 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 39.7 citations a year over 7 year(s) since 2021 |
| Impact for its field and year | 5 / 6 | Cited 25.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 23 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 184 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Lea T. Grinberg: h-index 97 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California, San Francisco: institution h-index 1,915 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 33693619) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 58 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Spina, S., La Joie, R., Petersen, C., Nolan, A. L., Cuevas, D., Cosme, C., et al. (2021). Comorbid neuropathological diagnoses in early versus late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Brain : a journal of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awab099
Vancouver
Spina S, La Joie R, Petersen C, Nolan AL, Cuevas D, Cosme C, et al. Comorbid neuropathological diagnoses in early versus late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Brain : a journal of neurology. 2021. doi:10.1093/brain/awab099. PMID: 33693619.
BibTeX
@article{spina2021-33693619,
author = {Spina, S. and La Joie, R. and Petersen, C. and Nolan, A. L. and Cuevas, D. and Cosme, C. and Hepker, M. and Hwang, J. H. and others},
title = {{Comorbid neuropathological diagnoses in early versus late-onset Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {Brain : a journal of neurology},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.1093/brain/awab099},
pmid = {33693619},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awab099}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here. Showing 12 of 31.
Later studies that cite this one
23 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references. Showing the 8 highest-scoring.
Related studies in Brain tissue and pathology
Also in Brain tissue and pathology
124 studies in the library are filed under Brain tissue and pathology with no topic tag they share with another; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed tour of them. The Brain tissue and pathology hub.