TY - JOUR
T1 - Study Partner Report of Apathy in Older Adults is Associated with AD Biomarkers
T2 - Findings from the Harvard Aging Brain Study
AU - Burling, Jessa E.
AU - Katz, Zoe
AU - Yuan, Ziwen
AU - Munro, Catherine
AU - Mimmack, Kayden
AU - Ma, Grace
AU - Hanseeuw, Bernard J.
AU - Papp, Kathryn V.
AU - Amariglio, Rebecca E.
AU - Vannini, Patrizia
AU - Rentz, Dorene M.
AU - Quiroz, Yakeel T.
AU - Johnson, Keith A.
AU - Sperling, Reisa A.
AU - Blacker, Deborah
AU - Marshall, Gad A.
AU - Yang, Hyun Sik
AU - Gatchel, Jennifer R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024
PY - 2024/8
Y1 - 2024/8
N2 - Objectives: We examined relationships between apathy (self and study-partner-reported) and markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in older adults. Design: The study utilized a well-characterized sample of participants from the Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS), a longitudinal cohort study. Participants were cognitively unimpaired without clinically significant neuropsychiatric symptoms at HABS baseline. The dependent variables, apathy evaluation scale-self (AES-S) and informant (AES-I), were administered cross-sectionally between years 6–9 and compared to the independent variables, amyloid and tau PET neuroimaging, from the same year. Setting: Community-dwelling participants assessed at research visits in an academic medical center. Participants: Participants (n = 170) completed assessments within 1.5 years of their neuroimaging visit. At the time of apathy assessment, N = 156 were cognitively unimpaired and 14 had progressed to mild cognitive impairment (n = 8) or dementia (n = 6). Measurements: We utilized linear regression models to assess cross-sectional associations of AES-S and AES-I with AD PET imaging measures (beta-amyloid (Pittsburgh Compound B) and tau (Flortaucipir)), covarying for age, sex, education, and the time between PET scan-apathy assessment. Results: AES-I was significantly associated with beta-amyloid and temporal lobe tau, and the associations were retained after further adjusting for depressive symptoms. The associations between AES-S and AD biomarkers were not significant. In an exploratory subgroup analysis of cognitively unimpaired individuals with elevated Aβ, we observed an association between AES-I and inferior temporal tau. Conclusions: Study-partner-reported, but not self-reported, apathy in older adults is associated with AD pathology, and we observed this relationship starting from the preclinical stage. Our findings highlight the importance of collateral information in capturing AD-related apathy.
AB - Objectives: We examined relationships between apathy (self and study-partner-reported) and markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in older adults. Design: The study utilized a well-characterized sample of participants from the Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS), a longitudinal cohort study. Participants were cognitively unimpaired without clinically significant neuropsychiatric symptoms at HABS baseline. The dependent variables, apathy evaluation scale-self (AES-S) and informant (AES-I), were administered cross-sectionally between years 6–9 and compared to the independent variables, amyloid and tau PET neuroimaging, from the same year. Setting: Community-dwelling participants assessed at research visits in an academic medical center. Participants: Participants (n = 170) completed assessments within 1.5 years of their neuroimaging visit. At the time of apathy assessment, N = 156 were cognitively unimpaired and 14 had progressed to mild cognitive impairment (n = 8) or dementia (n = 6). Measurements: We utilized linear regression models to assess cross-sectional associations of AES-S and AES-I with AD PET imaging measures (beta-amyloid (Pittsburgh Compound B) and tau (Flortaucipir)), covarying for age, sex, education, and the time between PET scan-apathy assessment. Results: AES-I was significantly associated with beta-amyloid and temporal lobe tau, and the associations were retained after further adjusting for depressive symptoms. The associations between AES-S and AD biomarkers were not significant. In an exploratory subgroup analysis of cognitively unimpaired individuals with elevated Aβ, we observed an association between AES-I and inferior temporal tau. Conclusions: Study-partner-reported, but not self-reported, apathy in older adults is associated with AD pathology, and we observed this relationship starting from the preclinical stage. Our findings highlight the importance of collateral information in capturing AD-related apathy.
KW - Alzheimer's disease
KW - Apathy
KW - amyloid
KW - positron emission tomography
KW - study-partner-report
KW - tau
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186984836&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jagp.2024.01.020
DO - 10.1016/j.jagp.2024.01.020
M3 - Article
C2 - 38443298
AN - SCOPUS:85186984836
SN - 1064-7481
VL - 32
SP - 909
EP - 919
JO - American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
JF - American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
IS - 8
ER -