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Home › Research › Cognitive tests and assessment

Scalable biological-cognitive profiling for Alzheimer's disease in the population

Karin Lohi, Aino Aaltonen, Sanna-Kaisa Herukka, Tarja Kokkola, Sari Kärkkäinen, Mia Urjansson, FinnGen, Aarno Palotie et al.. Brain communications, 2026-06-01

This page is alzhub.org's plain-English summary of a published study, not the paper itself. It is generated from the record we hold for this study, sourced and linked below — check the original for the full text and methods.

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 64 out of 100. Cognitive tests and assessment

Topic: Plasma and spinal-fluid biomarkers

Plasma phosphorylated tau217 has been suggested as a core biomarker for establishing a biological Alzheimer's disease diagnosis. This blood biomarker has not been studied together with scalable cognitive assessment tools in population-based samples. We investigated the prevalence of cognitive and Alzheimer's disease biomarker abnormalities and associations between plasma phosphorylated tau217 and remotely measured cognitive function in individuals without dementia. We used a population-based cross-sectional sample of 65-85-year-olds (n = 691, 57% females), excluding those with previously diagnosed Alzheimer's disease or other dementia-causing neurodegenerative disease. Cognition was measured with a telephone-administered word list recall task (episodic memory) and animal naming (semantic fluency). Plasma phosphorylated tau217 was determined with the ALZpath assay. The prevalence of individuals with abnormalities in tests measuring episodic memory, semantic fluency, and plasma phosphorylated tau217 was 10-13%. Higher plasma phosphorylated tau217 levels were associated with lower scores on telephone-administered cognitive tests. We found a substantial minority of a population-based sample of individuals without a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease to have cognitive and plasma phosphorylated tau217 profiles suggesting underlying Alzheimer's disease. Combining plasma phosphorylated tau217 with remote cognitive assessment could be a scalable, accessible, and cost-effective protocol for screening individuals with undiagnosed or at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Key findings

Study details

How this study scored 64/100
How this study's score is builtJournal tier 9 of 10; Journal's citation record left out, no data; Study design 4 of 12; Strength of evidence 1 of 5; Peer-review validation 10 of 10; How recent 5 of 5; Sample size 2 of 4; Effect reported 0 of 3; Studied in people 3 of 3; Randomised / blinded 0 of 2; Times cited left out, no data; Citations per year left out, no data; Impact for its field and year left out, no data; Cited by studies here left out, no data; Still being cited left out, no data; Senior author's track record left out, no data; Institution's track record left out, no data; Multi-centre collaboration left out, no data; Indexed in PubMed 2 of 2; Free to read left out, no data. 36 of the 56 points it could be judged on, which is 64 of 100. Total 64 of 100.36 of the 56 points we could judge = 64 of 100

Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a snapshot of people at one point in time. Scored zero for effect reported 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 36 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 64 out of 100.

ComponentPointsWhy
Journal tier 9 / 10 Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Brain communications)
Journal's citation record — / 4 No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design 4 / 12 A snapshot of people at one point in time
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 5 / 5 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size 2 / 4 691 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 — / 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 42232612)
Free to read — / 2 Access not recorded — left out of this score
Points 36 / 56 Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 36 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 64 out of 100.
Total 64 / 100 —

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

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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

Lohi, K., Aaltonen, A., Herukka, S.-K., Kokkola, T., Kärkkäinen, S., Urjansson, M., et al. (2026). Scalable biological-cognitive profiling for Alzheimer's disease in the population. Brain communications. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag168

Vancouver

Lohi K, Aaltonen A, Herukka S.-K, Kokkola T, Kärkkäinen S, Urjansson M, et al. Scalable biological-cognitive profiling for Alzheimer's disease in the population. Brain communications. 2026. doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcag168. PMID: 42232612.

BibTeX

@article{lohi2026-42232612,
  author  = {Lohi, Karin and Aaltonen, Aino and Herukka, Sanna-Kaisa and Kokkola, Tarja and Kärkkäinen, Sari and Urjansson, Mia and FinnGen and Palotie, Aarno and others},
  title   = {{Scalable biological-cognitive profiling for Alzheimer's disease in the population}},
  journal = {Brain communications},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.1093/braincomms/fcag168},
  pmid    = {42232612},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag168}
}

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