Alzheimer’s neuropathology and longitudinal change in subjective cognitive complaints

INTRODUCTION Subjective cognitive complaints often precede declines in objective measures of cognitive performance. Associations of incipient AD neuropathology with subjective cognitive complaints may be detectable earlier than its associations with neuropsychological testing among cognitively normal individuals. METHODS We examined the independent associations of PET measures of amyloid-β and tau pathologies with longitudinal subjective complaints and memory among 91 cognitively normal Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants using linear mixed effects models. Subjective complaints and memory performance were assessed with the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire and the California Verbal Learning Test, respectively. RESULTS Greater parahippocampal tau, independent of amyloid, was associated with higher subjective complaints (estimate=0.25, SE=0.1, p =0.015), while greater entorhinal tau corresponded to an attenuated increase in complaints over time (estimate=−0.06, SE=0.03, p =0.047). Hippocampal tau was associated with steeper memory decline (estimate=−0.03, SE=0.01, p =0.040). CONCLUSION Subjective cognitive complaints may be a reflection of early cerebral tau pathology in cognitively normal individuals.