Adulthood cognitive trajectories over 26 years and brain health at 70 years of age: findings from the 1946 British Birth Cohort.

Few studies can address how adulthood cognitive trajectories relate to brain health in 70-year-olds. Participants (n = 468, 49% female) from the 1946 British birth cohort underwent 18F-Florbetapir PET/MRI. Cognitive function was measured in childhood (age 8 years) and across adulthood (ages 43, 53, 60-64 and 69 years) and was examined in relation to brain health markers of β-amyloid (Aβ) status, whole brain and hippocampal volume, and white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV). Taking into account key contributors of adult cognitive decline including childhood cognition, those with greater Aβ and WMHV at age 70 years had greater decline in word-list learning memory in the preceding 26 years, particularly after age 60. In contrast, those with smaller whole brain and hippocampal volume at age 70 years had greater decline in processing search speed, subtly manifest from age 50 years. Subtle changes in memory and processing speed spanning 26 years of adulthood were associated with markers of brain health at 70 years of age, consistent with detectable prodromal cognitive effects in early older age.

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Disclosure statement Sarah-Naomi James – Reports no disclosures, Jennifer M. Nicholas – Reports no disclosures, Kirsty Lu – Reports no disclosures, Thomas D. Parker - Supported by a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship (200109/Z/15/Z)., Christopher A. Lane – Reports no disclosures, Ashvini Keshavan – Supported by a Wolfson Foundation Clinical Research Fellowship., Sarah E. Keuss – Reports no disclosures, Sarah M. Buchanan – Reports no disclosures, Heidi Murray-Smith – Reports no disclosures, David M. Cash – Supported by the UK Dementia Research Institute which receives its funding from DRI Ltd, funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK‐PG2017‐1946),  the UCL/UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, and the UKRI Innovation Scholars: Data Science Training in Health and Bioscience (MR/V03863X/1)) - Carole H. Sudre - Supported by an MRC platform grant (EP/M020533/1) and an Alzheimer's Society Junior Fellowship (AS-JF-17-011)., Josephine Barnes – Supported by a Senior ARUK fellowship., Ian B. Malone – Reports no disclosures, Will Coath – Reports no disclosures, Marc Modat – Supported by the Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre and an Alzheimer's Society Project Grant (AS-PG-15-025)., Andrew Wong – Reports no disclosures, Diana Kuh – Reports no disclosures, Sebastien Ourselin – Reports no disclosures, Sebastian J. Crutch - Supported by an Alzheimer's Research UK Senior Research Fellowship (ARUK-SRF2013-8)., Nick C. Fox - supported by the UCL/UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre, and the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL., Marcus Richards – Reports no disclosures, Jonathan M. Schott - supported by the UCL/UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UCL Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, and Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre. Acknowledges the EPSRC (EP/J020990/1) and European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant 666992).