Aortic stiffness, potential target for preventing tau-related pathologies: JAMA

USA: In a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association - Neurology, abnormal central vascular hemodynamics has been shown to be associated with higher tau loads in specific regions of the brain. Findings suggest that aortic stiffness, which is potentially modifiable, may be a probable independent target for preventing tau-related pathologies.

Aortic stiffness is associated with clinical features of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia and may represent a modifiable target for disease prevention. Therefore, Leroy L. Cooper and his team performed this study to evaluate the link between aortic stiffness and pressure fluctuations with global amyloid plaques and regional loads in the brain of middle-aged and older adults without dementia.

The sample for this cross-sectional study was obtained from the Third Generation Cohort of the Framingham Heart Study at review 3, in which 3092 subjects successfully underwent comprehensive hemodynamic assessments. At a follow-up visit (2015-2021), a subgroup of 270 participants without dementia who represented the vascular risk spectrum also underwent positron emission tomography.

13 participants were excluded because of the lack of covariance data. The final sample size was 257 participants. Three measurements of aortic stiffness and barometric vibration were assessed by angiography. Global and regional tau amyloid plaques were assessed using 11C-Pittsburgh and 18F-flortaucipir positron emission tomography machines, respectively.