Carotid Intima-Media Thickness and Amyloid-β Deposition: The ARIC-PET Study

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Wang, Wendy^{a; *} | Gottesman, Rebecca F.^b | Meyer, Michelle L.^c | Hughes, Timothy M.^d | Sullivan, Kevin J.^e | Wong, Dean F.^{f; g; h; i} | Lakshminarayan, Kamakshi^{a; j} | Lutsey, Pamela L.^a

Affiliations: [a] Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA | [b] Stroke Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA | [c] Department of Emergency Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA | [d] Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA | [e] Department of Medicine: The MIND Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA | [f] Department of Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA | [g] Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA | [h] Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA | [i] Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA | [j] Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Wendy Wang, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 S 2nd Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA. E-mail: wang5694@umn.edu.

Abstract: We assessed whether carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is prospectively associated with amyloid-β (Aβ). 332 nondemented Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study participants with carotid ultrasounds (1990–1992) and PET scans (2012–2014) were studied. Participants in the highest (versus lowest) cIMT tertile had 2.17 times the odds of elevated Aβ (95% CI: 1.15–4.11), after demographic and APOE ɛ4 adjustments. An interaction with APOE ɛ4 was observed (p = 0.02). Greater cIMT was associated with elevated Aβ independent of vascular risk factors among those with ≥1 APOE ɛ4 allele, but not in noncarriers. In this cohort, higher cIMT was associated with Aβ deposition 22 years later, particularly among APOE ɛ4 carriers.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid-β, carotid intima-media thickness, carotid ultrasound, florbetapir PET

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-215671

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 17-22, 2022