Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA | [b] Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA | [c] Department of Family and Community Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA | [d] South Texas Veterans' Health System, Audie L. Murphy Division, GRECC, San Antonio, TX, USA
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Donald R. Royall, MD, Departments of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Family and Community Medicine, the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA. Tel.: +1 210 567 1255; Fax: +1 210 567 1269; E-mail: royall@uthscsa.edu.
Abstract: We have employed structural equation models to explicitly distinguish functional status, and therefore “dementia-relevant” variance in cognitive task performance (i.e., “δ”). We previously associated δ with cytokines and other serum biomarkers in a well characterized Alzheimer's disease cohort, the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium. However, that δ homolog did not exhibit factor equivalence across ethnicity. In this study, we construct a δ homolog that exhibits mean and factor equivalence across ethnicity [i.e., “d(=)”]. d(=) is associated significantly with ten of the twelve previously selected biomarkers. Most of these associations are again specific to Non-Hispanic White participants. These findings have yet to be validated in other cohorts, but may suggest cross-ethnic differences in dementia's pathobiological mechanisms between Hispanic Mexican-Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites.
