Browsing by Author "Biber, Sarah"

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    Amyloid PET predicts longitudinal functional and cognitive trajectories in a heterogeneous cohort
    (Wiley, 2025) Younes, Kyan; Johns, Emily; Young, Christina B.; Kennedy, Gabriel; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Vossler, Hillary A.; Winer, Joseph; Cody, Karly; Henderson, Victor W.; Poston, Kathleen L.; Betthauser, Tobey J.; Bevis, Bill; Brooks, William M.; Burns, Jeffrey M.; Coombes, Stephen A.; DeCarli, Charles; DiFilippo, Frank P.; Duara, Ranjan; Fan, Audrey P.; Gibbons, Laura E.; Golde, Todd; Johnson, Sterling C.; Lepping, Rebecca J.; Leverenz, James; McDougall, Sean; Rogalski, Emily; Sanders, Elizabeth; Pasaye, Joshua; Sridhar, Jaiashre; Saykin, Andrew J.; Sridharan, Anjali; Swerdlow, Russell; Trittschuh, Emily H.; Vaillancourt, David; Vidoni, Eric; Wang, Wei-En; Mez, Jesse; Hohman, Timothy J.; Tosun, Duygu; Biber, Sarah; Kukull, Walter A.; Crane, Paul K.; Mormino, Elizabeth C.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) is increasingly available for diagnosis of Alzheimer`s disease (AD); however, its practical implications in heterogenous cohorts are debated. Methods: Amyloid PET from 890 National Alzheimer`s Coordinating Center participants with up to 10 years post-PET follow up was analyzed. Cox proportional hazards and linear mixed models were used to investigate amyloid burden prediction of etiology and prospective functional status and cognitive decline. Results: Amyloid positivity was associated with progression from unimpaired to mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Amyloid burden in the unimpaired group was associated with lower initial memory levels and faster decline in memory, language, and global cognition. In the Impaired group, amyloid was associated with lower initial levels and faster decline for memory, language, executive function, and global cognition. Discussion: Amyloid burden is an important prognostic marker in a clinically heterogeneous cohort. Future work is needed to establish the proportion of decline driven by AD versus non-AD processes in the context of mixed pathology. Highlights: Our findings highlight the importance of amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) in heterogenous cohorts, including diverse demographics, clinical syndromes, and underlying etiologies. The results also provide evidence that higher amyloid levels were linked to functional progression from unimpaired cognition to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and from MCI to dementia. In cognitively unimpaired individuals, higher amyloid burden was associated with poorer memory at baseline and subsequent declines in memory, language, and global cognition. Among individuals with cognitive impairment, amyloid burden was associated with worse initial memory, language, executive function, and global cognition, and faster declines over time.
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    Referral Sources Across Racial and Ethnic Groups at Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers
    (IOS Press, 2024) Chan, Carol K.; Lane, Kathleen A.; Gao, Sujuan; Adeoye-Olatunde, Omolola A.; Biber, Sarah; Glover, Crystal M.; Johnson, David K.; Risacher, Shannon L.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Wang, Sophia; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine
    Background: Despite the need to increase engagement of underrepresented groups (URG) in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) studies, enrollment remains low. Objective: Compare referral sources across racial and ethnic groups among participants enrolled in ADRC studies. Methods: Data for this cross-sectional secondary analysis were extracted from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set. We performed mixed effects logistic regression models using generalized estimating equations for professional referral versus non-professional referral by racial and ethnic group, adjusted for age, gender, education, visit year, and Clinical Dementia Rating scale (CDR) with a random effect for study site. Results: Included in the analysis were 48,330 participants across 46 ADRCs (mean [SD] age, 71.3 [10.5] years; 20,767 female [57%]; 4,138 Hispanic [8.6%]; 1,392 non-Hispanic Asian [2.9%]; 6,766 non-Hispanic Black [14%] individuals; and 676 individuals [1.4%] of other races. Non-Hispanic Black and Asian participants had lower odds of being referred by a professional contact compared to non-Hispanic White participants (Black: adjusted OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.44-0.86, p = 0.005; Asian: adjusted OR = 0.65, 95% CI, p = 0.004). In participants who had completed an MRI, there was no significant difference in referral source across ethnic and racial groups. Conclusions: Further studies are needed to better understand the systemic and structural factors that contribute to differences in referral sources and disparities in recruitment of URG into ADRD studies.