Overview
- Published in The Lancet Neurology, the biomarker-anchored model combines age, sex, APOE genotype and amyloid PET to compute individualized 10-year and lifetime risks for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia.
- Amyloid burden measured by PET had the largest effect on risk, with example estimates showing very high lifetime risk for older APOE ε4 carriers with high amyloid.
- The analysis used data from 5,858 participants in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging and leveraged medical-record linkage to achieve near-complete outcome follow-up, including among dropouts.
- Women had higher lifetime risk than men, and carriers of the APOE ε4 variant faced elevated risk for both MCI and dementia.
- Researchers note limits tied to a predominantly older white cohort and the cost and availability of PET imaging, and they plan validation plus future versions that incorporate blood-based biomarkers.