Prospective cohort study to evaluate the diagnostic values of biomarkers in blood, cerebrospinal fluid and magnetic resonance imaging for mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease in Hispanics

Abstract Background By 2025, an estimated three‐quarters of the global population aged 60 and older will live in Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC), leading to a rise in age‐related conditions. The main goal of the Panama Aging Research Initiative – Health Disparities (PARI‐HD) research program is to create a platform for multidisciplinary clinical studies that focus on mental health and its diseases such as age‐related cognitive decline. This platform would generate a large amount of clinical, neuropsychological, lifestyle, genetic and biomarker data following standardized research protocols. In this report we present the protocol of an ongoing clinical study within the PARI‐HD program. The main objective is to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of biomarkers in blood, cerebrospinal fluid and magnetic resonance imaging for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) in Panamanian older adults (≥ 65 years of age). We report a description of the overall design of the research study and the demographic characteristics of the research cohort enrolled to date. Method The study is descriptive and prospective, and for each participant we obtain informed consent, demographic data on medical history and functional status and neuropsychological evaluations. CSF, MRI and fasting blood samples are obtained. Participants are divided into the following diagnostic groups: MCI, AD, PD, and without cognitive impairment. Result To date, 72 persons have completed the baseline clinical evaluation: MCI (n=28), AD (n=4), Parkinson's disease (n=9), and without cognitive impairment (n=31). The participants have also completed the following study activities: MRI scans (n=38), lumbar punctures (n=23), blood samples (n=66), and cognitive tests (n=70). Conclusion The aim of this protocol is to enroll 120 participants across the four diagnostic groups, to highlight the critical role of precise brain imaging and CSF biomarkers in disease detection. Our study is the first of its kind in Panama and one of few in the LAC region, setting a milestone in exploring CSF protein analysis and MRI techniques associated with MCI, PD and AD in Hispanic/Latino individuals aged 65 and older.