Race modifies the relationship between cognition and Alzheimer’s disease cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers

Table 2 Demographic and biomarker variables that influence cognitive Z-scores

Variables	B (95% CI)	p Value
Intercept	−3.08 (−4.70, −1.45)	< 0.001
Log(WMH)	−0.35 (−0.89, 0.19)	0.206
Male sex	0.54 (0.21, 0.87)	0.002
Having at least one APOE ε4 allele	−0.36 (−0.71, −0.01)	0.042
Having ABCA7 risk allele	0.38 (0.04, 0.72)	0.03
Aβ42	0.003 (0.001, 0.004)	< 0.001
t-Tau	−0.006 (−0.010, −0.002)	0.003
Age	0.039 (0.015, 0.063)	0.002
African American race × log(WMH)	−0.496 (−1.074, 0.081)	0.091

Abbreviations: Aβ42 β-Amyloid 1–42, APOE Apolipoprotein E, t-Tau Total tau, WMH White matter hyperintensity
A stepwise regression model was used to determine factors most strongly associated with cognitive function as reflected by cognitive Z-scores. African American race had a trend of worsening cognitive functioning for the same degree of change in WMH. If the log(WMH) term was removed from this model, African American race was associated with lower cognitive Z-score (by 0.496; p = 0.006) per unit change of log(WMH). Race and sex were not significant factors in this model. Similar results were obtained when p-tau₁₈₁ instead of t-tau was entered into the model

ISSN: 1758-9193