Table 3.
Neuropathology characteristics of people with and without cognitive resilience to AD pathology
| Intermediate or high AD pathology | High AD pathology only | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not resilient N (%‡) N=208* |
Cognitively Resilient N (%‡) N=68† |
p-value (chi2) | Not resilient N (%‡) N=113** |
Cognitively Resilient N (%‡) N=23†† |
p-value (chi2) | |
| Median age at death (IQR) | 91 (88–95) | 89 (84–94) | 0.26 | 91 (87–94) | 90 (87–96) | 0.49 |
| Median years between dementia diagnosis and death (IQR) | 5.2 (3.2–7.5) | N/A | N/A | 5.5 (3.9–7.6) | N/A | N/A |
| Median years between last CASI score ≥86 and death (IQR) | N/A | 1.0 (0.5–1.6) | N/A | N/A | 1.0 (0.3–1.6) | N/A |
| CERAD | ||||||
| Intermediate | 75 (36.1) | 37 (54.4) | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Frequent | 133 (64.0) | 31 (45.6) | 113 (100) | 23 (100) | ||
| Braak | ||||||
| III | 17 (8.2) | 25 (36.8) | <0.001 | 0 | 0 | 0.06 |
| IV | 27 (13.0) | 12 (17.7) | 0 | 0 | ||
| V | 76 (36.5) | 22 (32.4) | 45 (39.8) | 14 (60.9) | ||
| VI | 88 (42.3) | 9 (13.2) | 68 (60.2) | 9 (39.1) | ||
| Atherosclerosis | ||||||
| None/mild | 45 (21.7) | 16 (24.2) | 0.67 | 23 (20.5) | 7 (30.4) | 0.30 |
| Moderate/severe | 162 (78.3) | 50 (75.8) | 89 (79.5) | 16 (69.6) | ||
| Arteriolosclerosis | ||||||
| None/mild | 28 (15.3) | 10 (18.9) | 0.53 | 14 (14.0) | 6 (30.0) | 0.08 |
| Moderate/severe | 155 (84.7) | 43 (81.1) | 86 (86.0) | 14 (70.0) | ||
| Macroscopic cystic infarcts | ||||||
| None | 84 (56.0) | 36 (75.0) | 0.01 | 50 (60.2) | 10 (76.9) | 0.36 |
| Any | 66 (44.0) | 11 (25.0) | 33 (39.8) | 3 (23.1) | ||
| Cortical or deep microinfarcts | ||||||
| 0–1 | 135 (64.9) | 55 (82.1) | 0.01 | 77 (68.1) | 20 (90.9) | 0.03 |
| 2+ | 73 (35.1) | 12 (17.9) | 36 (31.9) | 2 (9.1) | ||
| Hippocampal sclerosis | ||||||
| No | 157 (77.0) | 63 (94.0) | 0.01 | 84 (75.0) | 20 (87.0) | 0.28 |
| Yes | 47 (23.0) | 4 (6.0) | 28 (25.0) | 3 (13.0) | ||
| Amyloid angiopathy | ||||||
| None/mild | 152 (73.8) | 53 (77.9) | 0.49 | 78 (69.6) | 12 (52.2) | 0.11 |
| Moderate/severe | 54 (26.2) | 14 (22.1) | 34 (30.4) | 11 (47.8) | ||
| Lewy bodies in isocortex | ||||||
| No | 184 (89.8) | 64 (95.5) | 0.15 | 101 (90.2) | 22 (95.7) | 0.69 |
| Yes | 21 (10.2) | 3 (3.0) | 11 (9.8) | 1 (4.4) | ||
| Brain weight mean, gm (SD) | 1165 (136) | 1235 (140) | <0.001 | 1155 (137) | 1253 (136) | 0.002 |
*
People diagnosed with dementia before death, and a CERAD score of intermediate or frequent AND a BRAAK stage of III-VI
**
People diagnosed with dementia before death, and a CERAD score of frequent AND a BRAAK stage of V-VI
†
People with a CASI score ≥86 within 2 years of death and no dementia diagnosis, and a CERAD score of intermediate or frequent AND a BRAAK stage of III-VI
††
People with a CASI score ≥86 within 2 years of death and no dementia diagnosis, and a CERAD score of frequent AND a BRAAK stage of V-VI
‡
Percent calculated among people with non-missing neuropathology data.