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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Alzheimer's & Dementia

Stable episodic memory and higher education do not influence the rate of Alzheimer's disease pathology as measured by plasma p‐tau217

  • Bárbara Avelar‐Pereira1,2
  • Nicola Spotorno3
  • Anna Orduña Dolado3
  • Divya Bali3
  • Annelie Nordin Adolfsson4
  • Niklas Mattsson‐Carlgren3,5,6
  • Sebastian Palmqvist3,5
  • Shorena Janelidze3
  • Oskar Hansson3
  • Lars Nyberg7,8,9
9 affiliations
  1. 1Aging Research Center Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
  2. 2Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences School of Medicine Stanford University Stanford California USA
  3. 3Clinical Memory Research Unit Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö Lund University Lund Sweden
  4. 4Department of Clinical Sciences, Psychiatry Umeå University Umeå Sweden
  5. 5Memory Clinic Skåne University Hospital Malmö Sweden
  6. 6Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine Lund University Lund Sweden
  7. 7Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging Umeå University Umeå Sweden
  8. 8Department of Medical and Translational Biology Umeå University Umeå Sweden
  9. 9Department of Diagnostics and Intervention Umeå University Umeå Sweden
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Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Blood‐based biomarkers, particularly phosphorylated tau 217 (p‐tau217), can detect early Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathological changes. Recent work has shown that p‐tau217 is lower in individuals with stable cognition and higher education. These factors may protect against AD pathology.

METHODS: We evaluated whether individuals with stable episodic memory and higher education exhibited lower levels of or slower increases in p‐tau217 using longitudinal data from the population‐based Betula study (n = 1005; 1531 samples).

RESULTS: P‐tau217 increased with age over 10 years (p < 0.001), with the steepest increase seen in individuals with accelerated episodic‐memory decline (p < 0.001). There were no differences in p‐tau217 trajectories between individuals with lower or higher education (p = 0.386) or with well‐maintained or age‐typical decline in episodic memory (p = 0.885). The null finding for education was replicated in the BioFINDER‐2 cohort (p = 0.14).

DISCUSSION: Plasma p‐tau217 can detect early pathological changes in population‐based settings, but our findings do not support the notion that higher education or well‐maintained memory protects against AD neuropathological changes.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{avelarpereira2026stable,
  title = {{Stable episodic memory and higher education do not influence the rate of Alzheimer's disease pathology as measured by plasma p‐tau217}},
  author = {Bárbara Avelar‐Pereira and Nicola Spotorno and Anna Orduña Dolado and Divya Bali and Annelie Nordin Adolfsson and Niklas Mattsson‐Carlgren and Sebastian Palmqvist and Shorena Janelidze and Oskar Hansson and Lars Nyberg},
  journal = {Alzheimer's \& Dementia},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1002/alz.71920},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71920},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Stable episodic memory and higher education do not influence the rate of Alzheimer's disease pathology as measured by plasma p‐tau217
AU  - Bárbara Avelar‐Pereira
AU  - Nicola Spotorno
AU  - Anna Orduña Dolado
AU  - Divya Bali
AU  - Annelie Nordin Adolfsson
AU  - Niklas Mattsson‐Carlgren
AU  - Sebastian Palmqvist
AU  - Shorena Janelidze
AU  - Oskar Hansson
AU  - Lars Nyberg
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/04
JO  - Alzheimer's & Dementia
DO  - 10.1002/alz.71920
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71920
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Blood‐based biomarkers, particularly phosphorylated tau 217 (p‐tau217), can detect early Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathological changes. Recent work has shown that p‐tau217 is lower in individuals with stable cognition and higher education. These factors may protect against AD pathology.  METHODS: We evaluated whether individuals with stable episodic memory and higher education exhibited lower levels of or slower increases in p‐tau217 using longitudinal data from the population‐based Betula study (n = 1005; 1531 samples).  RESULTS: P‐tau217 increased with age over 10 years (p < 0.001), with the steepest increase seen in individuals with accelerated episodic‐memory decline (p < 0.001). There were no differences in p‐tau217 trajectories between individuals with lower or higher education (p = 0.386) or with well‐maintained or age‐typical decline in episodic memory (p = 0.885). The null finding for education was replicated in the BioFINDER‐2 cohort (p = 0.14).  DISCUSSION: Plasma p‐tau217 can detect early pathological changes in population‐based settings, but our findings do not support the notion that higher education or well‐maintained memory protects against AD neuropathological changes.
SN  - 1552-5260
SN  - 1552-5279
ER  -