Prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease Pathology in the Community

Dag Aarsland; Anita Sunde; diego Tovar-Rios; antione leuzy; Tormod  Fladby; Henrik Zetterberg; Kaj Blennow; Kübra Tan; giovanni de Santis; Yara  Yakoub; burak arslan; hanna huber; ilaria pola; lana Grötschel; Guglielmo  Di Molfetta; Håvard K  Skjellegrind18; Geir Selbaek; Nicholas Ashton

doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09841-y

Prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease Pathology in the Community

Dag Aarsland
, Anita Sunde
, diego Tovar-Rios
, antione leuzy
, Tormod Fladby
, Henrik Zetterberg
, Kaj Blennow
, Kübra Tan
, giovanni de Santis
, Yara Yakoub
, burak arslan
, hanna huber
, ilaria pola
, lana Grötschel
, Guglielmo Di Molfetta
, Håvard K Skjellegrind18
, Geir Selbaek
, Nicholas Ashton

Psychological Medicine

Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Innlandet Hospital Trust
National Advisory Unit on Aging and Health
University of Oslo
Vestfold Hospital Trust
Exeter and King's College Consortium for Genetics of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Dementia
University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

51 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathological changes (ADNCs), the leading cause of cognitive impairment, remains uncertain. Recent blood-based biomarkers enable scalable assessment of ADNCs1. Here we measured phosphorylated tau at threonine 217 in 11,486 plasma samples from a Norwegian population-based cohort of individuals over 57 years of age as a surrogate marker for ADNCs. The estimated prevalence of ADNCs increased with age, from less than 8% in people 58–69.9 years of age to 65.2% in those over 90 years of age. Among participants aged 70 years or older, 10% had preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, 10.4% had prodromal Alzheimer’s disease and 9.8% had Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Furthermore, among those 70 years of age or older, ADNCs were present in 60% of people with dementia, in 32.6% of those with mild cognitive impairment and in 23.5% of the cognitively unimpaired group. Our findings suggest a higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease dementia in older individuals and a lower prevalence of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease in younger groups than previously estimated.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	182–186
Journal	NATURE
Volume	650
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09841-y
Publication status	Published - 17 Dec 2025

Access to Document

10.1038/s41586-025-09841-yLicence: CC BY

Prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease_AARSLAND_AAM Accepted author manuscript, 595 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Aarsland, D., Sunde, A., Tovar-Rios, D., leuzy, A., Fladby, T., Zetterberg, H., Blennow, K., Tan, K., de Santis, G., Yakoub, Y., arslan, B., huber, H., pola, I., Grötschel, L., Di Molfetta, G., Skjellegrind18, H. K., Selbaek, G., & Ashton, N. (2025). Prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease Pathology in the Community. NATURE, 650, 182–186. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09841-y

@article{b744968e8e1b482f8fc5ec1f25eb4e81,

title = "Prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease Pathology in the Community",

abstract = "The prevalence of Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease neuropathological changes (ADNCs), the leading cause of cognitive impairment, remains uncertain. Recent blood-based biomarkers enable scalable assessment of ADNCs1. Here we measured phosphorylated tau at threonine 217 in 11,486 plasma samples from a Norwegian population-based cohort of individuals over 57 years of age as a surrogate marker for ADNCs. The estimated prevalence of ADNCs increased with age, from less than 8\% in people 58–69.9 years of age to 65.2\% in those over 90 years of age. Among participants aged 70 years or older, 10\% had preclinical Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease, 10.4\% had prodromal Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease and 9.8\% had Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease dementia. Furthermore, among those 70 years of age or older, ADNCs were present in 60\% of people with dementia, in 32.6\% of those with mild cognitive impairment and in 23.5\% of the cognitively unimpaired group. Our findings suggest a higher prevalence of Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease dementia in older individuals and a lower prevalence of preclinical Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease in younger groups than previously estimated.",

author = "Dag Aarsland and Anita Sunde and diego Tovar-Rios and antione leuzy and Tormod Fladby and Henrik Zetterberg and Kaj Blennow and K{\"u}bra Tan and \{de Santis\}, giovanni and Yara Yakoub and burak arslan and hanna huber and ilaria pola and lana Gr{\"o}tschel and \{Di Molfetta\}, Guglielmo and Skjellegrind18, \{H{\aa}vard K\} and Geir Selbaek and Nicholas Ashton",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1038/s41586-025-09841-y",

language = "English",

volume = "650",

pages = "182–186",

journal = "NATURE",

issn = "0028-0836",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease Pathology in the Community

AU - Aarsland, Dag

AU - Sunde, Anita

AU - Tovar-Rios, diego

AU - leuzy, antione

AU - Fladby, Tormod

AU - Zetterberg, Henrik

AU - Blennow, Kaj

AU - Tan, Kübra

AU - de Santis, giovanni

AU - Yakoub, Yara

AU - arslan, burak

AU - huber, hanna

AU - pola, ilaria

AU - Grötschel, lana

AU - Di Molfetta, Guglielmo

AU - Skjellegrind18, Håvard K

AU - Selbaek, Geir

AU - Ashton, Nicholas

PY - 2025/12/17

Y1 - 2025/12/17

N2 - The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathological changes (ADNCs), the leading cause of cognitive impairment, remains uncertain. Recent blood-based biomarkers enable scalable assessment of ADNCs1. Here we measured phosphorylated tau at threonine 217 in 11,486 plasma samples from a Norwegian population-based cohort of individuals over 57 years of age as a surrogate marker for ADNCs. The estimated prevalence of ADNCs increased with age, from less than 8% in people 58–69.9 years of age to 65.2% in those over 90 years of age. Among participants aged 70 years or older, 10% had preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, 10.4% had prodromal Alzheimer’s disease and 9.8% had Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Furthermore, among those 70 years of age or older, ADNCs were present in 60% of people with dementia, in 32.6% of those with mild cognitive impairment and in 23.5% of the cognitively unimpaired group. Our findings suggest a higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease dementia in older individuals and a lower prevalence of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease in younger groups than previously estimated.

AB - The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathological changes (ADNCs), the leading cause of cognitive impairment, remains uncertain. Recent blood-based biomarkers enable scalable assessment of ADNCs1. Here we measured phosphorylated tau at threonine 217 in 11,486 plasma samples from a Norwegian population-based cohort of individuals over 57 years of age as a surrogate marker for ADNCs. The estimated prevalence of ADNCs increased with age, from less than 8% in people 58–69.9 years of age to 65.2% in those over 90 years of age. Among participants aged 70 years or older, 10% had preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, 10.4% had prodromal Alzheimer’s disease and 9.8% had Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Furthermore, among those 70 years of age or older, ADNCs were present in 60% of people with dementia, in 32.6% of those with mild cognitive impairment and in 23.5% of the cognitively unimpaired group. Our findings suggest a higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease dementia in older individuals and a lower prevalence of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease in younger groups than previously estimated.

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-025-09841-y

DO - 10.1038/s41586-025-09841-y

M3 - Article

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 650

SP - 182

EP - 186

JO - NATURE

JF - NATURE

ER -

Prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease Pathology in the Community

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this