Introduction: Blood biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) are the future of AD risk assessment. The aim of this study was to determine the association between plasma-measured phosphorylated tau (p-tau181), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and neurofilament light (NfL) levels and risk of clinical AD incidence with consideration to the impact of cardiovascular health.
Methods: Within a community-based cohort, biomarker levels were measured at baseline using single molecule array technology in 768 participants (aged 50-75) followed over 17 years. Associations among biomarkers and AD, vascular dementia, and mixed dementia incidence were assessed.
Results: GFAP was associated with clinical AD incidence even more than a decade before diagnosis (9-17 years), while p-tau181 and NfL were associated with more intermediate AD risk (within 9 years). Significant interaction was detected between cardiovascular health and p-tau181/NfL.
Discussion: GFAP may be an early AD biomarker increasing before p-tau181 and NfL and the effect modifying role of cardiovascular health should be considered in biomarker risk stratification.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; blood biomarkers; cardiovascular risk; risk stratification; vascular dementia.
© 2022 The Authors. Alzheimer's & Dementia published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.