Vascular Risk and β-Amyloid Are Synergistically Associated with Cortical Tau
Rabin JS, Yang HS, Schultz AP, Hanseeuw BJ, Hedden T, Viswanathan A, Gatchel JR, Marshall GA et al.. Annals of neurology, 2019-01-07
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Objective Neuropathological studies have demonstrated that cerebrovascular disease and Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology frequently co-occur in older adults. The extent to which cerebrovascular disease influences the progression of AD pathology remains unclear. Leveraging newly available positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, we examined whether a well-validated measure of systemic vascular risk and β-amyloid (Aβ) burden have an interactive association with regional tau burden. Methods Vascular risk was quantified at baseline in 152 clinically normal older adults (mean age = 73.5 ± 6.1 years) with the office-based Framingham Heart Study cardiovascular disease risk algorithm (FHS-CVD). We acquired Aβ ( 11 C-Pittsburgh compound B) and tau ( 18 F-flortaucipir) PET imaging on the same participants. Aβ PET was performed at baseline; tau PET was acquired on average 2.98 ± 1.1 years later. Tau was measured in the entorhinal cortex (EC), an early site of tau deposition, and in the inferior temporal cortex (ITC), an early site of neocortical tau accumulation associated with AD. Linear regression models examined FHS-CVD and Aβ as interactive predictors of tau deposition, adjusting for age, sex, APOE ε4 status, and the time interval between baseline and the tau PET scan. Results We observed a significant interaction between FHS-CVD and Aβ burden on subsequently measured ITC tau (p Interpretation Elevated vascular risk may influence tau burden when coupled with high Aβ burden. These results suggest a potential link between vascular risk and tau pathology in preclinical AD. Ann Neurol 2019; 1-8 ANN NEUROL 2019;85:272-279.
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APA 7th
Rabin, J. S., Yang, H. S., Schultz, A. P., Hanseeuw, B. J., Hedden, T., Viswanathan, A., et al. (2019). Vascular Risk and β-Amyloid Are Synergistically Associated with Cortical Tau. Annals of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.25399
Vancouver
Rabin JS, Yang HS, Schultz AP, Hanseeuw BJ, Hedden T, Viswanathan A, et al. Vascular Risk and β-Amyloid Are Synergistically Associated with Cortical Tau. Annals of neurology. 2019. doi:10.1002/ana.25399. PMID: 30565287.
BibTeX
@article{rabin2019-30565287,
author = {Rabin, J. S. and Yang, H. S. and Schultz, A. P. and Hanseeuw, B. J. and Hedden, T. and Viswanathan, A. and Gatchel, JR. and Marshall, G. A. and others},
title = {{Vascular Risk and β-Amyloid Are Synergistically Associated with Cortical Tau}},
journal = {Annals of neurology},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1002/ana.25399},
pmid = {30565287},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.25399}
}
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Key findings
- Objective Neuropathological studies have demonstrated that cerebrovascular disease and Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology frequently co-occur in older adults.
- Tau was measured in the entorhinal cortex (EC), an early site of tau deposition, and in the inferior temporal cortex (ITC), an early site of neocortical tau accumulation associated with AD.
- Results We observed a significant interaction between FHS-CVD and Aβ burden on subsequently measured ITC tau (p Interpretation Elevated vascular risk may influence tau burden when coupled with high Aβ burden.
- These results suggest a potential link between vascular risk and tau pathology in preclinical AD.
Why it matters
In 152 clinically normal older adults, elevated vascular risk and amyloid burden had a significant interactive association with subsequently measured tau in the inferior temporal cortex. This suggests that vascular risk may influence the progression of Alzheimer's pathology, but no treatment or prevention is tested.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
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.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Annals of neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Annals of Neurology: journal h-index 437 (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 | 2 / 5 | 2019 — within 10 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 | 5 / 7 | Cited 108 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 12.0 citations a year over 9 year(s) since 2019 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 6.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 9 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 36 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Jasmeer P. Chhatwal: h-index 64 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Harvard University: institution h-index 3,235 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 30565287) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 50 / 100 | — |
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