Combining LASSI-L with plasma biomarkers

This longitudinal study asked whether blood-based Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers and cognitive challenge testing provide complementary information about real-world decline. The investigators followed 159 adults, ages 54–98, who had cognitive impairment without dementia for at least three annual visits (mean follow-up, 41.5 months). They modeled change in the Clinical Dementia Rating–Sum of Boxes and examined plasma p-tau217, GFAP, and neurofilament light alongside two LASSI-L indicators: Cued B2 recall and Cued B2 intrusion errors, which capture failure to recover from proactive semantic interference.

The biomarker and cognitive findings contributed different, clinically useful signals. Plasma p-tau217 was most informative about baseline impairment, neurofilament light predicted longitudinal worsening, and poorer LASSI-L performance independently predicted the rate of cognitive and functional decline after adjustment for demographic factors, APOE ε4, and amyloid status. The positive value of the LASSI-L is its ability to show how underlying pathology is being expressed cognitively: adding this brief challenge test to plasma biomarkers improved the prediction and monitoring of meaningful decline during pre-dementia stages.