The dynamics of cognitive decline toward Alzheimer's disease progression: Results from ADSP‐PHC's harmonized cognitive composites

Abstract

Introduction: Accurately assessing the temporal order of cognitive decline across multiple domains is critical in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Existing literature presents controversial conclusions likely due to the use of a single cohort and different analytical strategies.

Methods: Harmonized composite cognitive measures in memory, language, and executive functions from 13 cohorts in the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Phenotype Harmonization Consortium (ADSP-PHC) were used. A double anchoring events-based sigmoidal mixed model was developed using time to incident AD diagnosis as the time scale.

Results: In general, decline in memory occurred before decline in language, followed by decline in executive function. This temporal order generally persisted within each subgroup of apolipoprotein E ε4 carrier status, sex, and race/ethnicity.

Discussion: This study demonstrated the use of harmonized data across multiple cohorts to characterize the temporal order of cognitive decline along AD progression. Using time to incident AD diagnosis as the time scale can enhance research reproducibility and clinical practice.

Highlights: Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Phenotype Harmonization Consortium's harmonized composite cognitive measures from 13 cohort studies fitted with a novel double anchoring event-based sigmoidal mixed model reveal the following temporal order of cognitive decline toward AD progression: memory, language, and executive function. If only investigated using individual cohort studies, the temporal order of cognitive decline would vary due to the underlying heterogeneities across studies. This temporal order generally persisted within each subgroup of apolipoprotein E ε4 carrier status, sex, and race/ethnicity.