The Study
Neuropsychiatric Profiles and Cerebral Amyloid Burden in Adults without Dementia
This study found that older people who report feeling anxious, depressed, or worried — or whose family members notice these feelings — tend to have more amyloid in their brains. But it doesn't prove that one causes the other; it just shows they often happen together.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at older people who don't have dementia yet and checked if their feelings of anxiety, sadness, or memory concerns matched up with early signs of Alzheimer's protein buildup in their brains.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 545 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — these emotional and memory concerns might be early warning signs of Alzheimer's disease, appearing decades before memory problems become obvious.
- 2People who said they were worried about their memory had higher amyloid levels.
- 3Caregivers noticing anxiety or sadness in the person also matched higher amyloid levels — even more reliably than the person's own reports.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders
Year
2024
Authors
E. Gontrum, E. Paolillo, Shannon Y. Lee, Valentina E. Diaz, Alexander Ehrenberg, R. Saloner, Nidhi Mundada, R. La Joie, G. Rabinovici, J. Kramer, K. Casaletto
Related Content
Claims (6)
Amyloid-beta builds up in the brain about 20 years before a person shows signs of Alzheimer's disease.
In older adults without dementia, higher amounts of amyloid-beta protein in the brain, measured by PET scans, are linked to greater reports of memory concerns by the individuals themselves and higher reports of anxiety and depression by their family members or caregivers.
In older adults without dementia, those with mild cognitive impairment show a stronger connection between their reported psychiatric symptoms and the level of amyloid protein buildup in the brain than those without cognitive impairment.
In older adults without dementia, observations made by caregivers about anxiety and depression are more closely linked to the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain than the older adult's own reports of depression or emotional flatness.
In older adults without dementia, people who report noticing their own memory or thinking problems are more likely to have buildup of amyloid protein in the brain than those who do not, even when accounting for depression or anxiety.
In older adults without dementia, the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms reported by caregivers is linked to the amount of amyloid protein in the brain, regardless of whether the person has mild cognitive impairment or normal cognition.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.