Abstract
Depression and related neurobehavioral symptoms are common features of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The presence of these potentially modifiable neurobehavioral symptoms in cognitively intact older adults may represent an early indication of pathophysiological processes in the brain. Tau pathology is a key feature of a number of dementias. A number of studies have found an association between tau and neurobehavioral symptoms. The current study investigated the relationship of a blood-based biomarker of tau and symptoms of depression, anxiety, worry, and sleep disturbances in 538 community based, cognitively normal older adults. Logistic regression revealed no significant relationship between plasma total tau and any measures of neurobehavioral symptoms. To assess the impact of level of tau on these relationships, participants were divided into those in the highest quintile of tau and those in the lower four quintiles. Regression analyses showed a significant relationship between level of plasma total tau and measures of depression, apathy, anxiety, worry and sleep. The presence of higher levels of plasma tau and elevated neurobehavioral symptoms may be an early indicator of cognitive decline and prodromal Alzheimer’s disease. Longitudinal research is needed to evaluate the impact of these factors on the development of dementia and may suggest areas for early intervention.
Highlights
A number of neurobehavioral symptoms including depression, apathy, anxiety (Ma, 2020), worry (Bower et al, 2019), and sleep disturbances (Ju et al, 2014) have been shown to be risk factors for the development of cognitive decline
This study is one of the first to show the association of plasma t-tau levels with levels of symptoms of depression, anxiety, worry and daytime sleepiness in cognitively normal older adults
The current findings are consistent with earlier findings using CSF and positron emission tomography (PET) data that t-tau is related to the presence of a range of neurobehavioral symptoms in cognitively normal older adults but only at the highest level
Summary
A number of neurobehavioral symptoms including depression, apathy, anxiety (Ma, 2020), worry (Bower et al, 2019), and sleep disturbances (Ju et al, 2014) have been shown to be risk factors for the development of cognitive decline. A recent meta-analysis found that depression and sleep duration (long or short) were the symptoms most consistently associated with cognitive decline (Hudon et al, 2020) The presence of these potentially modifiable neurobehavioral symptoms in cognitively intact older adults may represent an early indication of pathophysiological processes in the brain. The current study utilizes blood-based biomarkers of t-tau to investigate the relationship between plasma total tau and symptoms of depression, apathy, anxiety, worry and sleep disturbances in a cohort of community based cognitively normal older adults
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