Does ethnicity moderate dementia's biomarkers?

We have used structural equation models to explicitly distinguish functional status, and therefore “dementia-relevant” variance in cognitive task performance (i.e., “δ”) from that which is unrelated to a dementing process. Our approach results in a relatively “error-free” continuous variable that can serve as a dementia-specific phenotype. In this study, we associate δ with cytokines and other serum biomarkers in a well characterized Alzheimer's disease cohort, the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium. Independent of covariates, δ is associated significantly with 12 serum biomarkers. These associations appear to be specific to non-Hispanic white participants.