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. 2022 Jul 19;99(3):e270–e280. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000200551

Figure 4. Mediation Models of the Association of Vascular Risk, Brain Atrophy, and Cognitive Decline at High and Low Levels of Aβ Burden.

Figure 4

Mediation analyses were performed to determine whether brain atrophy mediates the association between vascular risk and cognitive decline at high vs low levels of β-amyloid (Aβ) burden. Because the analyses were carried out in a linear regression framework, we used slopes to represent gray matter atrophy and cognitive decline. At high levels of Aβ, there was a significant direct and atrophy-mediated effect of vascular risk on cognitive decline (left). At low levels of Aβ, there was a significant direct effect of vascular risk on cognitive decline but no significant indirect (mediated) effect as shown by the dotted line (right). ACME = average causal mediation effect; ADE = average direct effect. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.