👤 Jason Hassenstab

"SuperAgers" are oldest-old adults (ages 80+) whose memory performance more closely resembles middle-aged adults. The present study examined apolipoprotein E (APOE) allele frequency in non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and non-Hispanic White (NHW) SuperAgers compared to controls and Alzheimer's disease dementia cases. In 18,080 participants from eight cohorts, harmonized clinical diagnostics and memory, executive function, and language domain scores were used to identify SuperAgers, cases, and controls across age-defined bins. NHW SuperAgers had significantly lower frequency of APOE-ε4 alleles and higher frequency of APOE-ε2 alleles compared to all cases and controls, including oldest-old controls. Similar patterns were found in a small yet substantial sample of NHB SuperAgers; however, not all comparisons with controls reached significance. We demonstrated strong evidence that APOE allele frequency relates to SuperAger status. Further research is needed with a larger sample of NHB SuperAgers to determine if mechanisms conferring cognitive resilience differ across race groups. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) allele frequency differs between SuperAgers and cases APOE allele frequency differs between non-Hispanic White SuperAgers and controls The relationship of APOE and non-Hispanic Black SuperAger status is unclear. Show less

Sleep is a marker of brain function that could potentially identify patients for early intervention by detecting cognitive change during the early asymptomatic stages of Alzheimer disease (AD). We examined the relationship between sleep and cognition in cognitively unimpaired older adults and evaluated whether the relationship was altered by AD risk factors. Cognitively unimpaired older adults (N = 319, age 54-97 years) were administered a sleep diary (1x/day) and brief cognitive assessments (4x/day) for seven consecutive days via a smartphone application. We evaluated if a previous night's sleep predicts next-day cognition and if sleep averaged over a week predicts cognitive performance averaged over a week. Additional analyses included the effects of carrying an apolipoprotein (APOE) ε4 allele and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of AD pathology. At the between-person level, no associations were observed between sleep and cognition. Within-person analyses revealed that deviations (both higher and lower scores) from an individual's usual sleep pattern were associated poorer next day cognitive performance. Carriage of the APOE ε4 allele and AD biomarkers did not interact with sleep-cognition relationships. Remote, multi-day assessments of cognition and sleep revealed subtle non-linear associations between nightly sleep and next-day cognition in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Furthermore, the individualized nature of sleep-cognition relationships underscores the importance of maintaining consistent person-centered sleep health metrics to support cognitive function. Capturing latent AD-related changes in sleep and cognition among asymptomatic older adults may require repeated assessments across extended timeframes. Show less