Identifying Cognitive Decliners using MRI and Blood Biomarkers

Elderly individuals often encounter cognitive decline as a natural aspect of the aging process. However, there are some individuals who maintain (i.e., Cognitive-Maintainers) or even improve cognitive performance as they age (i.e., Positive Agers). Identifying Cognitive Decliners is the first step toward understanding the factors that protect against or prevent cognitive decline and may contribute to successful aging. This study involved 711 participants aged 65 and above from the UK Biobank. We grouped the participants into "Cognitive Decliners" versus "Others" based on the cognitive scores obtained from three cognitive function tests: Fluid Intelligence (FI), Pairs Matching Memory (PMM), and Reaction Time (RT). We evaluated the effectiveness of blood biomarkers, and multiple Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sources, including resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI), diffusion MRI (dMRI), and structural MRI (sMRI) in identifying "Cognitive Decliners". The best AUC was achieved when assigning extreme cognitive scores to "Cognitive Decline" group (??=10%), and when blood biomarkers (0.79) or rsfMRI (0.77) data was employed.