Cognitive reserve predicts baseline tau burden in the U.S. POINTER trial imaging cohort

Higher cognitive reserve (CR) is associated with reduced dementia risk. We hypothesized that higher CR is associated with less baseline Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology in the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) cohort.

A subsample of participants underwent amyloid beta and tau positron emission tomography imaging. Regression analysis was used to model the association between educational attainment (EA) as a CR proxy measure, amyloid positivity, and entorhinal cortex (ERC) and meta-temporal region of interest (meta-ROI) tau standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR).

In 911 participants with complete imaging data, higher CR was significantly associated with lower ERC tau SUVR. CR was not associated with amyloid status or meta-ROI tau.

In the U.S. POINTER cohort, higher EA predicted lower tau burden in the ERC. Meta-ROI tau levels may be too low in this cognitively unimpaired sample to reveal associations. CR may have a role in promoting biological resistance to AD pathology.

Higher cognitive reserve is associated with a lower dementia risk and better cognitive performance after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk trial imaging cohort was cognitively unimpaired at baseline and a subsample received amyloid and tau positron emission tomography scans. Higher educational attainment, a proxy measure of cognitive reserve, was significantly related to tau levels in the entorhinal cortex region of interest.