BACKGROUND
We investigated the association between atrophy subtypes of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the ATN classification scheme, and key demographic and clinical factors, in two cohorts with different source characteristics (a highly selective research-oriented cohort, ADNI; and a naturalistic heterogeneous clinically-oriented cohort, Karolinska Imaging Dementia Study (KIDS).
METHODS
A total of 382 AD patients were included. Factorial analysis of mixed data was used to investigate associations between AD subtype based on brain atrophy patterns, ATN profiles based on cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, and age, sex, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), cerebrovascular disease (CVD) (burden of white matter signal abnormalities, WMSA), and APOE genotype.
RESULTS
Older patients with high WMSA burden, belonging to the typical AD subtype, and showing A + T + N + or A + T + N- profiles clustered together and were mainly from ADNI. Younger patients with low WMSA burden, limbic-predominant or minimal atrophy AD subtypes, and A + T-N- or A + T-N + profiles, clustered together and were mainly from KIDS. APOE ε4 carriers more frequently showed the A + T-N- and A + T + N- profiles.
CONCLUSIONS
Our findings align with the recent framework for biological subtypes of AD: the combination of risk factors, protective factors, and brain pathologies determines belonging of AD patients to distinct subtypes.