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Alongside amyloid plaque accumulation, tau deposition (principally as neurofibrillary tangles) is a hallmark neuropathologic feature of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). Whereas amyloidosis has a long preclinical phase, tau pathology has closer connections to AD neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. PET imaging to assess tau pathology in people has been largely confined to research cohorts. To examine possible links between tau burden and likelihood of cognitive decline, researchers pooled data from 21 cohorts on ≈ 6000 older adults, who had tau and amyloid-β PET imaging concurrently with clinical examinations.
Among cognitively normal individuals who were positive for both amyloid and tau, 57% were diagnosed with mild cognitive impai…