Associations of sensory and motor function with blood-based biomarkers of neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease in midlife

Pathological biomarkers of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) change decades before clinical symptoms. Common sensory and motor changes in aging adults may be early markers of neurodegeneration. We investigated if midlife sensory and motor functions in Beaver Dam Offspring Study (BOSS) parti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neurobiology of aging 2022-12, Vol.120, p.177-188
Main Authors: Paulsen, Adam J., Schubert, Carla R., Pinto, Alex A., Chappell, Richard J., Chen, Yanjun, Cruickshanks, Karen J., Engelman, Corinne D., Ferrucci, Luigi, Hancock, Laura M., Johnson, Sterling C., Merten, Natascha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alzheimer Disease - pathology
Alzheimer's disease
Amyloid beta-Peptides
Biomarker
Biomarkers
Dementia
Female
Humans
Middle Aged
Motor Skills
Neurodegeneration
Neurodegenerative Diseases - pathology
Neurofilament Proteins
Sensation
tau Proteins
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Pathological biomarkers of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) change decades before clinical symptoms. Common sensory and motor changes in aging adults may be early markers of neurodegeneration. We investigated if midlife sensory and motor functions in Beaver Dam Offspring Study (BOSS) participants (N = 1529) were associated with longitudinal changes in blood-based biomarkers of neurodegeneration (neurofilament light chain (NfL); total tau (TTau)) and AD (amyloid beta (Aβ)). Mixed-effects models with baseline sensory and motor function as determinants and 10-year biomarker change as outcome were used. Participants with hearing impairment and worse motor function (among women) showed faster increases in NfL level over time (0.8% per year; 0.3% per year, respectively). There were no significant associations with TTau or Aβ. We found consistent relationships between worse baseline hearing and motor function with a faster increase in neurodegeneration, specifically serum NfL level. Future studies with longer follow-up should determine if sensory and motor changes are more reflective of general neurodegeneration than AD-specific pathology and whether sensory and motor tests may be useful screening tools for neurodegeneration risk.
ISSN:0197-4580
1558-1497
DOI:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.08.008