Background:Cerebrovascular disease often coexists with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While both diseases share common risk factors, their interrelationship remains unclear. Increasing the understanding of how cerebrovascular changes interact with AD is essential to develop therapeutic strategies and refine biomarkers for early diagnosis. Objective:We investigate the prevalence and risk factors for the comorbidity of amyloid-β (Aβ) and cerebrovascular disease in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study of Ageing, and further examine their cross-sectional association. Methods:A total of 598 participants (422 cognitively normal, 89 with mild cognitive impairment, 87 with AD) underwent positron emission tomography and structural magnetic resonance imaging for assessment of Aβ deposition and cerebrovascular disease. Individuals were categorized based on the comorbidity status of Aβ and cerebrovascular disease (V) as Aβ–V–, Aβ–V+, Aβ+V–, or Aβ+V+. Results:Advancing age was associated with greater likelihood of cerebrovascular disease, high Aβ load and their comorbidity. Apolipoprotein E ɛ4 carriage was only associated with Aβ positivity. Greater total and regional WMH burden were observed in participants with AD. However, no association were observed between Aβ and WMH measures after stratification by clinical classification, suggesting that the observed association between AD and cerebrovascular disease was driven by the common risk factor of age. Conclusion:Our observations demonstrate common comorbid condition of Aβ and cerebrovascular disease in later life. While our study did not demonstrate a convincing cross-sectional association between Aβ and WMH burden, future longitudinal studies are required to further confirm this.

中文翻译：

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老年脑血管病与阿尔茨海默病的合并症

背景：脑血管疾病常与阿尔茨海默病（AD）共存。虽然这两种疾病具有共同的危险因素，但它们的相互关系仍不清楚。增加对脑血管变化如何与 AD 相互作用的理解对于制定治疗策略和完善早期诊断的生物标志物至关重要。目的：我们调查了澳大利亚老龄化影像、生物标志物和生活方式研究中淀粉样蛋白 β (Aβ) 和脑血管疾病共病的患病率和危险因素，并进一步检查它们的横断面关联。方法：共有 598 名参与者（422 名认知正常，89 名轻度认知障碍，87 名 AD）接受了正电子发射断层扫描和结构磁共振成像评估 Aβ 沉积和脑血管疾病。根据 Aβ 和脑血管疾病 (V) 的合并症状态将个体分类为 Aβ-V-、Aβ-V+、Aβ+V- 或 Aβ+V+。结果：年龄增长与脑血管疾病、高 Aβ 负荷及其合并症的可能性增加有关。载脂蛋白 E ɛ4 携带仅与 Aβ 阳性相关。在 AD 参与者中观察到更大的总和区域 WMH 负担。然而，在按临床分类分层后，未观察到 Aβ 和 WMH 测量之间的关联，这表明观察到的 AD 与脑血管疾病之间的关联是由年龄的共同危险因素驱动的。结论：我们的观察结果表明 Aβ 和脑血管疾病在晚年是常见的合并症。