Table 1 General characteristics of the study participants at baseline

n^a

118

44

56

Age, years (m ±SD)

71.2±8.2

69.0±8.6

72.1±6.9

0.049

Sex,n(%) women

70 (59.3%)

17 (38.6%)

23 (41.1%)

0.840

Education level,n(%) higher education

35 (30.2%)

18 (41.9%)

16 (29.1%)

0.188

APOEε4,n(%) carriers

40 (36.0%)

7 (16.3%)

25 (50.0%)

0.001

CDR-SB (0–18) (m ±SD)

1.5±2.1

0.7±1.4

2.2±2.4

<0.001

MMSE score (0–30) (m ±SD)

26.3±3.6

27.4±3.8

25.4±3.6

0.010

Psychotropic drugs,n(%)

29 (25%)

4 (9.1%)

20 (36.4%)

0.002

BMI, kg/m² (m ±SD)

25.0±4.2

24.6±3.6

25.4±4.9

0.388

CSF AD biomarkers

800.9±281.2

 Aβ_1-42, in pg/mL (m±SD)

423.1±322.0

876.7±267.7

725.5±276.4

0.007

 tau, in pg/mL (m±SD)

65.5±38.3

285.9.1±198.6

511.2±366.9

<0.001

 p-tau181, in pg/mL (m±SD)

51.3±23.0

75.2.9±46.2

0.002

CSF AD pathology status^b,n(%)

51 (43.2%)

8 (18.2%)

32 (57.1%)

<0.001

CSF cortisol, in ng/mL (m ±SD)

36.77±17.21

29.6±12.7

41.0±18.6

<0.001

CSF DHEAS, in ng/mL (m ±SD)

1.01±0.45

1.02±0.457

0.942±0.421

0.376

CSF cortisol/DHEAS ratio (m ±SD)

45.63±36.84

35.7±26.8

55.0±44.1

0.012