Plasma p‐tau217 and cognitive impairment: Evaluating biomarker equity across racial/ethnic groups in HABS‐HD
INTRODUCTION
Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p‐tau217) is a leading blood‐based biomarker of Alzheimer's disease. Its performance in underrepresented racial/ethnic groups remains insufficiently characterized.
METHODS
We analyzed 2798 participants from the Health and Aging Brain Study–Health Disparities, including non‐Hispanic White, non‐Hispanic Black, and Hispanic adults. Multivariable logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses assessed associations and discriminative accuracy between plasma p‐tau217 and clinical cognitive impairment with racial/ethnic‐specific thresholds.
RESULTS
Across all groups, p‐tau217 levels were higher in cognitively impaired than unimpaired participants. Elevated p‐tau217 was associated with greater odds of cognitive impairment in all racial and ethnic groups. Discriminative accuracy was modest but significant (area under the curve 0.65–0.72), with highest performance in non‐Hispanic Black and lowest in Hispanic participants.
DISCUSSION
Plasma p‐tau217 is robustly associated with cognitive impairment across diverse populations with varying thresholds, highlighting the need for population‐specific calibration to support equitable biomarker implementation.
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N. J. Ashton, Wagner S. Brum, Guglielmo Di Molfetta et al.
Sebastian Palmqvist, Shorena Janelidze, Yakeel T. Quiroz et al.
- Published
- Jan 01, 2026
- Vol/Issue
- 18(1)
- License
- View
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