Poorer online cognitive performance is associated with genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease and brain phenotypes in healthy mid‐life and older adults.

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundSelf‐administered online cognitive testing offers a cost‐effective and flexible alternative to in‐person neuropsychological assessments. We used the Creyos platform (previously named Cambridge Brain Sciences) to assess cognitive function in a large sample (N = 1673) of middle aged and older adults participating in the PISA (Prospective Imaging Study of Aging) study. PISA aims to characterise the early symptoms and progression of Alzheimer’s disease at its prodromal phase.MethodWe have utilised our Australia‐wide population based sample recruitment pool of research participants with genome wide genotyping. Participants completed a comprehensive online survey and online cognitive assessments, including Creyos, consisting of 12 self‐administered tasks covering memory, executive function, language, and visuo‐spatial domains. Using genetic profile scores in a sample size of 1,673 (70% female, aged 42‐75 years, mean 60.8). We tested the association between cognitive test results and genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related phenotypes including structural neuroimaging measures.ResultsOur findings indicate a significant association of Alzheimer’s polygenic risk scores (PRS) with cognitive test results in healthy individuals within memory and executive function domains. The results of analyses with additional genetic profile scores including psychiatric traits and structural neuroimaging measures will also be presented.ConclusionThose who are at high genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease have reduced cognitive function prior to dementia diagnosis from middle age. Our results highlight the utility of online cognitive testing as a cost‐effective alternative to in person testing for large scale studies and the potential for it’s used as a pre‐screening approach to identify those at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease.