Associations between multimorbidity burden and Alzheimer's pathology in older adults without dementia: the CABLE study

Studies have shown that multimorbidity may be associated with the Alzheimer's disease (AD) stages, but it has not been fully characterized in patients without dementia. A total of 1402 Han Chinese older adults without dementia from Chinese Alzheimer's Biomarker and LifestylE (CABLE) study were included and grouped according to their multimorbidity patterns, defined by the number of chronic disorders and cluster analysis. Multivariable linear regression models were used to detect the associations with AD-related cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. Multimorbidity and severe multimorbidity (>= 4 chronic conditions) were significantly associated with CSF amyloid and tau levels (p(FDR) < 0.05). Metabolic patterns were significantly associated with higher levels of CSF A beta 40 (beta = 0.159, p(FDR) = 0.036) and tau (P-tau: beta = 0.132, p(FDR) = 0.035; T-tau: beta = 0.126, p(FDR) = 0.035). The above associations were only significant in the cognitively normal (CN) group. Multimorbidity was associated with brain AD pathology before any symptomatic evidence of cognitive impairment. Identifying such high-risk groups might allow tailored interventions for AD prevention.