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53/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 53 out of 100. Biomarkers

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Introduction As the role of biomarkers is increasing in Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical trials, it is critical to use a comprehensive temporal biomarker profile that reflects both baseline and longitudinal assessments to establish a more precise association between the change in biomarkers and change in cognition. Because age of onset of dementia symptoms is highly predictable, and there are relatively few age-related comorbidities, the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network autosomal dominant AD population affords a unique opportunity to investigate these relationships in a well-characterized population. Methods A novel joint statistical model was used to simultaneously evaluate how a comprehensive AD biomarker profile predicts change in cognition using amyloid positron emission tomography (PET), CSF Aβ 42 , CSF total tau and Ptau 181 , cortical metabolism using [F-18] fluorodeoxyglucose-PET, and hippocampal volume from participants enrolled in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (n = 262) with mean (SD) duration of follow-up of 2.7 (1.2) years. Results Baseline amyloid PET levels and CSF biomarkers were associated with change in cognition in contrast to the rate of change of brain metabolism and hippocampal volume, which predicted change in cognition. Conclusions This study suggests that the baseline value of amyloid PET and CSF Aβ 42 measures may be useful for screening participants for AD trials; however, brain hippocampus atrophy and hypometabolism are only useful as repeated longitudinal assessments for tracking cognition and disease progression. This suggests that measures of amyloid plaques predict future cognitive decline, but only longitudinal measures of neurodegeneration correlate with cognitive decline. The novel statistical model used in this study can be easily applied to any pair of outcomes and has potential to be widely used by the AD research community.

Key findings

Results Baseline amyloid PET levels and CSF biomarkers were associated with change in cognition in contrast to the rate of change of brain metabolism and hippocampal volume, which predicted change in cognition.
Conclusions This study suggests that the baseline value of amyloid PET and CSF Aβ 42 measures may be useful for screening participants for AD trials; however, brain hippocampus atrophy and hypometabolism are only useful as repeated longitudinal assessments for tracking cognition and disease progression.
This suggests that measures of amyloid plaques predict future cognitive decline, but only longitudinal measures of neurodegeneration correlate with cognitive decline.

Why it matters

In 262 participants with dominantly inherited Alzheimer disease, baseline amyloid PET and cerebrospinal fluid markers were associated with later change in cognition, while rates of change in brain metabolism and hippocampal volume predicted change in cognition. The authors suggest baseline amyloid PET and CSF Aβ42 may help screen trial participants, and repeated measures of hippocampal atrophy and hypometabolism may help track disease.

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Study details

Study designlongitudinal study
Participants262
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 53/100

Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for effect reported 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 51 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 53 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.))
Journal's citation record	1 / 4	Alzheimer s & Dementia Translational Research & Clinical Interventions: journal h-index 84 (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	2 / 5	2018 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	2 / 4	262 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	3 / 7	Cited 19 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	1 / 5	1.9 citations a year over 10 year(s) since 2018
Impact for its field and year	2 / 6	Cited 1.2× 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 6 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	2 / 3	Washington University in St. Louis: institution h-index 1,962 (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 30569014)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Points	51 / 96	Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 51 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 53 out of 100.
Total	53 / 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

Wang, G., Xiong, C., McDade, E. M., Hassenstab, J., Aschenbrenner, A. J., Fagan, A. M., et al. (2018). Simultaneously evaluating the effect of baseline levels and longitudinal changes in disease biomarkers on cognition in dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trci.2018.10.009

Vancouver

Wang G, Xiong C, McDade EM, Hassenstab J, Aschenbrenner AJ, Fagan AM, et al. Simultaneously evaluating the effect of baseline levels and longitudinal changes in disease biomarkers on cognition in dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.). 2018. doi:10.1016/j.trci.2018.10.009. PMID: 30569014.

BibTeX

@article{wang2018-30569014,
  author  = {Wang, G. and Xiong, C. and McDade, E. M. and Hassenstab, J. and Aschenbrenner, A. J. and Fagan, A. M. and Benzinger, T. L. S. and Gordon, B. A. and others},
  title   = {{Simultaneously evaluating the effect of baseline levels and longitudinal changes in disease biomarkers on cognition in dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease}},
  journal = {Alzheimer's \& dementia (New York, N. Y.)},
  year    = {2018},
  doi     = {10.1016/j.trci.2018.10.009},
  pmid    = {30569014},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trci.2018.10.009}
}

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