https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/ underlyingconditions.html † CDC defines post-COVID-19 conditions as new, returning, or ongoing health problems occurring ≥4 weeks after being infected with SARS-CoV-2. https:// www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects/index.html

Objective: To evaluate the spatial pattern and regional rates of neocortical atrophy from normal aging to early Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods:Longitudinal MRI data were analyzed using high-throughput image analysis procedures for 472 individuals diagnosed as normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or AD. Participants were divided into 4 groups based on Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes score (CDR-SB). Annual atrophy rates were derived by calculating percent cortical volume loss between baseline and 12-month scans. Repeated-measures analyses of covariance were used to evaluate group differences in atrophy rates across regions as a function of impairment. Planned comparisons were used to evaluate the change in atrophy rates across levels of disease severity. Results:In patients with MCI-CDR-SB 0.5-1, annual atrophy rates were greatest in medial temporal, middle and inferior lateral temporal, inferior parietal, and posterior cingulate. With increased impairment (MCI-CDR-SB 1.5-2.5), atrophy spread to parietal, frontal, and lateral occipital cortex, followed by anterior cingulate cortex. Analysis of regional trajectories revealed increasing rates of atrophy across all neocortical regions with clinical impairment. However, increases in atrophy rates were greater in early disease within medial temporal cortex, whereas increases in atrophy rates were greater at later stages in prefrontal, parietal, posterior temporal, parietal, and cingulate cortex.

An increased peripheral level of inflammatory markers is associated with a modest increase in risk of all-cause dementia. Evidence for an association with risk of AD alone is limited.

Background Detection of “any cognitive impairment” is mandated as part of the Medicare annual wellness visit, but screening all patients may result in excessive false positives. Methods We developed and validated a brief Dementia Screening Indicator using data from four large, ongoing cohort studies (the Cardiovascular Health Study [CHS]; the Framingham Heart Study [FHS]; the Health and Retirement Study [HRS]; the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging [SALSA]) to help clinicians identify a subgroup of high-risk patients to target for cognitive screening. Results The final Dementia Screening Indicator included age (1 point/year; ages, 65–79 years), less than 12 years of education (9 points), stroke (6 points), diabetes mellitus (3 points), body mass index less than 18.5 kg/m2 (8 points), requiring assistance with money or medications (10 points), and depressive symptoms (6 points). Accuracy was good across the cohorts (Harrell’s C statistic: CHS, 0.68; FHS, 0.77; HRS, 0.76; SALSA, 0.78). Conclusions The Dementia Screening Indicator is a simple tool that may be useful in primary care settings to identify high-risk patients to target for cognitive screening.