Associations of late-life blood pressure with CERAD, Braak, and Thal: Findings from the National Alzheimer's coordinating center neuropathology dataset
Corresponding Author
Mo-Kyung Sin
College of Nursing, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington, USA
Correspondence: Mo-Kyung Sin, PhD, RN, College of Nursing, Seattle University 901 12th Ave. P.O. Box 222000, Seattle, WA 98122, USA. Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorN. Maritza Dowling
School of Nursing, Milken School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorJeffrey M. Roseman
School of Public Health, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAli Ahmed
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, George Washington University and Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorEdward Zamrini
Irvine Clinical Research, Irvine, California, USA
George Washington University, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Mo-Kyung Sin
College of Nursing, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington, USA
Correspondence: Mo-Kyung Sin, PhD, RN, College of Nursing, Seattle University 901 12th Ave. P.O. Box 222000, Seattle, WA 98122, USA. Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorN. Maritza Dowling
School of Nursing, Milken School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorJeffrey M. Roseman
School of Public Health, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAli Ahmed
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, George Washington University and Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorEdward Zamrini
Irvine Clinical Research, Irvine, California, USA
George Washington University, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Mid-life high blood pressure (BP) is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). CERAD amyloid β (Aβ) plaques, Braak tau neurofibrillary tangles, and Thal Aβ plaque location are major scoring systems for quantifying neuropathological features of AD. We examined the association of late-life systolic BP (SBP) with CERAD, Braak, and Thal in the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) Neuropathology Dataset. Of 1978 participants with data on CERAD, 762 had scores 0–1 (none to sparse) and 1216 had 2–3 (moderate to frequent). Of 1947 with data on Braak, 411 had stages 0–II (normal to mild) and 1536 had III–VI (moderately to very severe). Of 2132 with data on Thal, 438 had phases 0–I, 428 II–III, and 1266 IV–V. Using the mean of the last four SBP before death, SBP was categorized into <120 (references), 120–139, and ≥140 mmHg. Age-sex-adjusted ORs (95% CIs) associated with SBP ≥140 mmHg for CERAD 2–3 and Braak III–VI were 1.37 (1.03, 1.83, P = 0.03) and 1.26 (0.89, 1.78, P = 0.20), respectively. Similar association was observed for Thal II–III and IV–V. These associations essentially remained unchanged after additional adjustment for APOE and Lewy Body pathology. These findings suggest that higher late-life SBP is associated with markers of presence and severity of neuropathological features of AD. Further studies with larger sample sizes are necessary to confirm the findings.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available in NACC Uniform Dataset at https://naccdata.org. These data were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center, https://naccdata.org/.
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