Prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the community
The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease neuropathological changes (ADNCs), the leading cause of cognitive impairment, remains uncertain. Recent blood-based biomarkers enable scalable assessment of ADNCs<sup>1</sup>. Here we measured phosphorylated tau at threonine 217 in 11,486 plasma samples from a Norwegian population-based cohort of individuals over 57 years of age as a surrogate marker for ADNCs. The estimated prevalence of ADNCs increased with age, from less than 8% in people 58-69.9 years of age to 65.2% in those over 90 years of age. Among participants aged 70 years or older, 10% had preclinical Alzheimer's disease, 10.4% had prodromal Alzheimer's disease and 9.8% had Alzheimer's disease dementia. Furthermore, among those 70 years of age or older, ADNCs were present in 60% of people with dementia, in 32.6% of those with mild cognitive impairment and in 23.5% of the cognitively unimpaired group. Our findings suggest a higher prevalence of Alzheimer's disease dementia in older individuals and a lower prevalence of preclinical Alzheimer's disease in younger groups than previously estimated<sup>2</sup>.
Authors
- Geir Selbæk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6511-8219)
- Guglielmo Di Molfetta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5339-933X)
- Nicholas James Ashton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3579-8804)
- A. Sunde (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0854-470X)
- Hanna Huber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3080-6870)
- Kaj Blennow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1890-4193)
- Antoine Leuzy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4542-7879)
- Dag Aarsland (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6314-216X)
- Håvard Kjesbu Skjellegrind (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3067-0016)
- Ilaria Pola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2090-2944)
- Lana Grötschel
- Yara Yakoub (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4769-7162)
- Tormod Fladby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9984-9797)
- Diego Tovar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3490-9899)
- Henrik Zetterberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3930-4354)
- Giovanni De Santis
- Burak Arslan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6629-5153)
- Kübra Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9092-2118)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Oslo University Hospital (NO)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CA)
- Stavanger University Hospital (NO)
- Akershus University Hospital (NO)
- Levanger Hospital (NO)
- Sahlgrenska University Hospital (SE)
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DE)
- Sykehuset i Vestfold (NO)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (FR)
- UK Dementia Research Institute (GB)
- Banner Sun Health Research Institute (US)
- Institut du Cerveau (FR)
- University of Bergen (NO)
- University College London (GB)
- University of Gothenburg (SE)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Universidad del Valle (CO)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature
- Published
- 2025-12-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09841-y
- Citations
- 11
- Primary Topic
- Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 16.18