Tau accumulation and atrophy predict amyloid independent cognitive decline in aging.

Introduction: Amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau pathology are cross-sectionally associated with atrophy and cognitive decline in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: We investigated relationships between concurrent longitudinal measures of Aβ (Pittsburgh compound B [PiB] positron emission tomography [PET]), tau (flortaucipir [FTP] PET), atrophy (structural magnetic resonance imaging), episodic memory (EM), and non-memory (NM) in 78 cognitively healthy older adults (OA).

Results: Entorhinal FTP change was correlated with EM decline regardless of Aβ, but meta-temporal FTP and global PiB change were only associated with EM and NM decline in Aβ+ OA.