Blood biomarkers for dementia in Hispanic and non-Hispanic White adults

Abstract

Introduction: The study evaluated if blood markers reflecting diverse biological pathways differentiate clinical diagnostic groups among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White adults. Methods: Within Hispanic (n = 1193) and non-Hispanic White (n = 650) participants, serum total tau (t-tau), neurofilament light (NfL), ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase LI, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), soluble cluster of differentiation-14, and chitinase-3-like protein 1 (YKL-40) were quantified. Mixed-effects partial proportional odds ordinal logistic regression and linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the association of biomarkers with diagnostic group and cognition, adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, apolipoprotein E ε4, education, and site. Results: T-tau, NfL, GFAP, and YKL-40 discriminated between diagnostic groups (receiver operating curve: 0.647–0.873). Higher t-tau (odds ratio [OR] = 1.671, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.457–1.917, P