Examining a Preclinical Alzheimer’s Cognitive Composite for Telehealth Administration for Reliability Between In-Person and Remote Cognitive Testing with Neuroimaging Biomarkers
Affiliations: [a]
Department of Internal Medicine-Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| [b]
Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| [c]
Department of Neurology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to:Tugce Duran, MS, Atrium Health, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. E-mail: tduran@wakehealth.edu.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: Background:The preclinical Alzheimer’s cognitive composite (PACC) was developed for in-person administration to capture subtle cognitive decline. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, cognitive testing was increasingly performed remotely by telephone or video administration. It is desirable to have a harmonized composite measurement derived from both in-person and remote assessments for identifying cognitive changes and to examine its relationship with common neuroimaging biomarkers. Objective:We defined a telehealth compatible PACC (tPACC) and examined its relationship with neuroimaging biomarkers related to neurodegeneration, brain function and perfusion, white matter integrity, and amyloid-β. Methods:We examined 648 participants’ neuroimaging and in-person and remote cognitive testing data from the Wake Forest Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s Clinical Core cohort (observational study) to calculate a modified PACC (PACC5-RAVLT) score and tPACC scores (in-person and remote). We performed Spearman/intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analyses for reliability of tPACC scores and linear regression models to evaluate associations between tPACC and neuroimaging. Bland-Altman plots for agreement were constructed across cognitively normal and impaired (mild cognitive impairment and dementia) participants. Results:There was a significant positive relationship between tPACCin - person and PACC5-RAVLT (Overall group: r2 = 0.94, N = 648), and tPACCin - person and tPACCremote (validation subgroup: ICC = 0.82, n = 53). Overall, tPACC showed significant associations with brain thickness/volume, gray matter perfusion, white matter free water, and amyloid-β deposition. Conclusions:There is a good agreement between tPACCand PACC5-RAVLTfor cognitively normal and impaired individuals. The tPACC is associated with common neuroimaging markers of Alzheimer’s disease.
