Cited by 524Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsCancer-related cognitive impairment studies

Prediction of future Alzheimer’s disease dementia using plasma phospho-tau combined with other accessible measures

Open access
Palmqvist, Sebastian, Tideman, Pontus, Cullen, Nicholas, Zetterberg, Henrik, Blennow, Kaj, the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Dage, Jeffery L., Stomrud, Erik +3 more·2021·Nature Medicine

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

A combination of plasma phospho-tau (P-tau) and other accessible biomarkers might provide accurate prediction about the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. We examined this in participants with subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment from the BioFINDER (n = 340) and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) (n = 543) studies. Plasma P-tau, plasma Aβ42/Aβ40, plasma neurofilament light, APOE genotype, brief cognitive tests and an AD-specific magnetic resonance imaging measure were examined using progression to AD as outcome. Within 4 years, plasma P-tau217 predicted AD accurately (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.83) in BioFINDER. Combining plasma P-tau217, memory, executive function and APOE produced higher accuracy (AUC = 0.91, P < 0.001). In ADNI, this model had similar AUC (0.90) using plasma P-tau181 instead of P-tau217. The model was implemented online for prediction of the individual probability of progressing to AD. Within 2 and 6 years, similar models had AUCs of 0.90-0.91 in both cohorts. Using cerebrospinal fluid P-tau, Aβ42/Aβ40 and neurofilament light instead of plasma biomarkers did not improve the accuracy significantly. The clinical predictions by memory clinic physicians had significantly lower accuracy (4-year AUC = 0.71). In summary, plasma P-tau, in combination with brief cognitive tests and APOE genotyping, might greatly improve the diagnostic prediction of AD and facilitate recruitment for AD trials.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41591-021-01348-z

Cites

60 of 60 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The participants in this study were relatively young (average age 65 years) compared to ADNI and BioFinder cohorts.

    “According to our inclusion criteria, the participants in this study were relatively young (average age: 65 years) comparing to ADNI and BioFinder cohorts11,40,41.”

    From Integrated algorithm combining plasma biomarkers and cognitive assessments accurately predicts brain β-amyloid pathology (2023) · cites this paper as [11]

    The ‘Participants in BioFINDER’ section reports a mean age of 70.7 years, supporting the comparison with the citing study’s stated average of 65. The ‘Validation cohort’ section gives ADNI participants’ age range as 55–91 years, but the passages do not establish that their average age exceeded 65. The cited paper also does not report the citing study’s average age. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Previous research attempted to develop algorithms combining multiple factors and showed better and more robust performance in predicting Aβ positivity of Alzheimer's disease.

    “Previous research attempted to develop algorithms combining multiple factors and showed better and more robust performance in predicting Aβ positivity of Alzheimer’s disease.”

    From Integrated algorithm combining plasma biomarkers and cognitive assessments accurately predicts brain β-amyloid pathology (2023) · cites this paper as [11]

    The Discussion reports that an algorithm combining plasma P-tau, cognitive measures and APOE genotype performed robustly across two cohorts. But its predicted outcome was progression to Alzheimer’s disease dementia, not Aβ positivity; the Cross-validation section likewise describes the algorithm as estimating dementia risk within four years. Aβ-related measures appear as predictors or proxies, not as the outcome claimed. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Among existing plasma biomarkers, P-tau has shown the highest predictive accuracy for Aβ positivity.

    “Among the existing plasma biomarkers, P-tau has shown the highest predictive accuracy for Aβ positivity11,12.”

    From Integrated algorithm combining plasma biomarkers and cognitive assessments accurately predicts brain β-amyloid pathology (2023) · cites this paper as [11]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says plasma P-tau reflects Aβ pathology, supporting an association with Aβ status. But the paper’s reported prediction accuracies concern progression to Alzheimer’s dementia, not Aβ positivity; it does not establish that P-tau has the highest accuracy among plasma biomarkers for predicting Aβ positivity. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Abnormality for plasma biomarkers was determined in a standardized manner across all cohorts using z-scores created based on the means and s.d. of cognitively unimpaired individuals without elevated amyloid-β pathology.

    “Abnormality for plasma biomarkers was determined in a standardized manner across all cohorts using z-scores created based on the means and s.d. of cognitively unimpaired individuals without elevated amyloid-β pathology, as previously done in several studies8,62,63.”

    From Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease using plasma biomarkers adjusted to clinical probability (2024) · cites this paper as [62]

    The Plasma biomarkers section says that Aβ-negative cognitively normal reference groups in BioFINDER and ADNI supplied the means and standard deviations for plasma P-tau cutoffs and z-scores. But abnormality was defined by a mean-plus-2-s.d. cutoff in each cohort; z-scores were used in a secondary model, and the described procedure concerns plasma P-tau rather than plasma biomarkers generally. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • A standardized method of determining plasma biomarker abnormality was used across centers.

    “Abnormality for plasma biomarkers was determined in a standardized manner across all cohorts using z-scores created based on the means and s.d. of cognitively unimpaired individuals without elevated amyloid-β pathology, as previously done in several studies8,62,63.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Palmqvist, S., Tideman, P., Cullen, N., Zetterberg, H., Blennow, K., Initiative, T. A. D. N., Dage, J. L., Stomrud, E., Janelidze, S., Mattsson-Carlgren, N., & Hansson, O.
Affiliations
  • Lund University (SE)
  • Sahlgrenska University Hospital (SE)
  • Eli Lilly (United States) (US)
Corresponding author
  • Palmqvist, Sebastian
  • Hansson, Oskar
Venue
Nature Medicine
Published
2021-05-24
Volume
27
Issue
6
Pages
1034-1042
ISSN
  • 1078-8956 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-170X
OpenAlex
W3119309452
Cited by
524
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 72 · 2025: 101 · 2024: 128 · 2023: 99 · 2022: 107 · 2021: 16
FWCI
63.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Purdue University Indianapolis (Indiana University) (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
  • IUScholarWorks (Indiana University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Vetenskapsrådet (2018-02052, 2016-00906)
  • Hjärnfonden (FO2020-0271)
  • Alzheimerfonden (AF-940046, AF-745911)
  • Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse (2017-0383)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Cancer-related cognitive impairment studies
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease, dementia prediction, p-tau217, p-tau181, APOE genotype, subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, neurofilament light chain, brief cognitive tests, diagnostic accuracy, clinical trial recruitment
MeSH terms
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease, Apolipoproteins E, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Prognosis, Risk Factors, Biomarkers, Amyloid beta-Peptides, tau Proteins, Neuroimaging, Cognitive Dysfunction

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review