ADHD Genetic Risk Probed as Biomarker for Alzheimer
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Elderly patients with a high attention deficit hyperactivity disorder polygenic risk score but no clinical ADHD diagnosis are at elevated risk for progressive longitudinal cognitive deterioration. Cognitive decline was most common in people with amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology confirmed on PET, suggesting that those with a genetic liability for ADHD and those who are Aβ-positive have cognitive susceptibility. Longitudinal increases in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) p-tau181 and brain atrophy in the frontal and parietal regions were associated in Aβ-positive individuals with high ADHD-PRS scores, suggesting an elevated susceptibility to tau pathology in patients with ADHD.
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@manav Although cognitive deficits across various neurocognitive domains have been described extensively in ADHD, no study has yet linked ADHD with a decline in cognitive performance in adults or with progression of Alzheimer's disease dementia. This study used a well-validated ADHD polygenic risk score (ADHD-PRS) to support epidemiologic associations between ADHD and cognitive decline and the development of Alzheimer's disease in adults with no cognitive impairment. The study results indicate that ADHD-PRS can inform the risk of developing cognitive decline in the cognitively unimpaired elderly population in the absence of biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease.