Alzheimer's Polygenic Risk and Clinical Severity Manifest in Greater Cognitive Intra-Individual Variability

Cognitive intra-individual variability (IIV) is a neuropsychological marker reflecting divergent performance across cognitive domains. In this brief communication, we examined whether clinical severity, apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 carriers, and higher polygenic risk were associated with higher cognitive IIV, and whether higher polygenic risk and cognitive IIV synergistically influence clinical severity.

This large study involved up to 24,248 participants (mean age = 72) from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) and multiple regression controlling for age, sex, and education was used to analyze the data.

We found that disease severity (B = 0.055, SE = 0.001, P < 0.001), APOE ε4 carriers (B = 0.02, SE = 0.003, P < 0.001), and higher polygenic risk (B = 0.02, SE = 0.004, P < 0.001) were associated with higher cognitive IIV. Polygenic risk and cognitive IIV also interacted to influence clinical severity, beyond APOE ε4 (B = 0.11, SE = 0.05, P = 0.02), such that individuals with high polygenic risk and cognitive IIV had the greatest clinical severity.

Heightened polygenic risk and increased cross-domain cognitive variation are implicated in dementia and may impact clinical decline in tandem.