Diversity in Biomarkers: Challenging Expectations of Serum Tau Positivity

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundAlzheimer’s disease has been thought to affect minority populations at higher rates than the Caucasian population. While recent advancements in biomarkers have been promising, we expected to see a similar correlation with biomarker positivity rates. However, our data has revealed that serum TAU biomarker testing in older healthy populations reveals a positivity rate much higher in Caucasian vs. Black participants as well as in Non‐Hispanic vs. Hispanic participants.MethodData from 1,223 cognitively unimpaired trial participant subjects was analyzed. Of those participants 120 were Black and 1,066 were Caucasian. Data from 36 participants of other minority races and one participant who chose not to reveal race were also collected but for the purpose of this presentation are not being addressed at this time. Data on ethnicity was also collected, revealing 262 Hispanic and 961 Non‐Hispanic participants. Again, one participant chose not to reveal ethnicity.ResultPercentages of positivity were collected and analyzed. While we expected to see rates of positivity two times higher for Black participants than Caucasian participants, what was actually noted was 10.5% positivity for Caucasian and 6.7% positivity for Black or African Americans. Similarly, we expected to see positivity among Hispanic participants at 1.5 times greater than Non‐Hispanic participants. What instead was noted was very similar rates of positivity with Non‐Hispanic at 10% positivity and Hispanic at 11.1% positivity.ConclusionIn analyzing positivity rates of serum TAU among certain race and ethnicity groups, we expected to see evidence of pathology similar to rates of reported actually diagnosed diseases. However, the data obtained is trending differently. While the initial data was from a relatively small sample population, the collection of additional data will help further analyze if this trend will continue to reveal rates of positivity contradictory to what is expected.