Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany | [b] Medizinische Klinik III, Kardiologie und Kreislauferkrankungen, Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany | [c] Geriatric Center, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Christoph Laske, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, or Konstantinos Stellos, MD, Medizinische Klinik III, Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, Osianderstr. 24, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. Tel.: +49 70712983444; Fax: +49 7071294141; E-mail: christoph.laske@med.uni-tuebingen.de or konstantinos.stellos@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
Note: [] Handling Associate Editor: Milan Fiala
Abstract: Plasma levels of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides are potential biomarkers of early cognitive impairment and of Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk. However, the association of Aβ peptides with the rate of cognitive decline in AD patients is still unclear. In the present study we demonstrate that Aβ1-42 plasma levels show a significant correlation with the rate of cognitive decline and are significantly increased in AD patients with fast cognitive decline (decrease of Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score ⩾ 5/year; n=12) compared to AD patients with slow cognitive decline (decrease of MMSE score ⩽ 4/year; n=28), independent of baseline MMSE scores, age and cholinesterase inhibitor intake, but dependent on history of myocardial infarction and history of stroke in a multivariate analysis. These results suggest that Aβ1-42 plasma levels are associated with the rate of cognitive decline in AD patients and may be influenced by atherosclerotic vasculopathies such as stroke and myocardial infarction.
