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Implication for Clinical Trials From Longitudinal Tau-PET Accumulation Across Biological Alzheimer Disease Stages
Lydia Trudel, Joseph Therriault, Arthur C. Macedo, Stijn Servaes, Seyyed Ali Hosseini, Gleb Bezgin, Étienne Aumont, Nesrine Rahmouni et al.. Neurology, 2025-09-23
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
< 0.001). Stage-specific tau-PET region-of-interest selection reduced required sample sizes by 30%-93% for detecting hypothetical disease-modifying drug effects. Stage-specific patterns of tau-PET change highlighted the importance of baseline biological AD staging for selecting outcome regions of interest. Statistical power analyses indicated that aligning outcome regions with disease stage reduced sample size estimates, suggesting potential gains in trial efficiency. While findings were consistent across 2 independent cohorts, differences in tracers and demographic composition represent key limitations.
Key findings
- Stage-specific tau-PET region-of-interest selection reduced required sample sizes by 30%-93% for detecting hypothetical disease-modifying drug effects.
- Stage-specific patterns of tau-PET change highlighted the importance of baseline biological AD staging for selecting outcome regions of interest.
- Statistical power analyses indicated that aligning outcome regions with disease stage reduced sample size estimates, suggesting potential gains in trial efficiency.
- While findings were consistent across 2 independent cohorts, differences in tracers and demographic composition represent key limitations.
Why it matters
Selecting tau-PET regions based on biological disease stage reduced the sample sizes needed to detect hypothetical drug effects by 30% to 93%. This is a trial-design finding and does not show that any treatment works.
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Study details
- Study designlongitudinal study
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 55/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 53 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 55 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Neurology: journal h-index 525 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A longitudinal study following the same people over time |
| 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 | 2 / 7 | Cited 10 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 3.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 6.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 2 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 10 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | University of Pittsburgh: institution h-index 1,470 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40986433) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 53 / 96 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 53 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 55 out of 100. |
| Total | 55 / 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
Trudel, L., Therriault, J., Macedo, A. C., Servaes, S., Hosseini, S. A., Bezgin, G., et al. (2025). Implication for Clinical Trials From Longitudinal Tau-PET Accumulation Across Biological Alzheimer Disease Stages. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000214111
Vancouver
Trudel L, Therriault J, Macedo AC, Servaes S, Hosseini SA, Bezgin G, et al. Implication for Clinical Trials From Longitudinal Tau-PET Accumulation Across Biological Alzheimer Disease Stages. Neurology. 2025. doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000214111. PMID: 40986433.
BibTeX
@article{trudel2025-40986433,
author = {Trudel, Lydia and Therriault, Joseph and Macedo, Arthur C. and Servaes, Stijn and Hosseini, Seyyed Ali and Bezgin, Gleb and Aumont, Étienne and Rahmouni, Nesrine and others},
title = {{Implication for Clinical Trials From Longitudinal Tau-PET Accumulation Across Biological Alzheimer Disease Stages}},
journal = {Neurology},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1212/wnl.0000000000214111},
pmid = {40986433},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000214111}
}
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