Combining Select Blood-Based Biomarkers with Neuropsychological Assessment to Detect Mild Cognitive Impairment among Mexican Americans

Background: Recent work has supported use of blood-based biomarkers in detection of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Inclusion of neuropsychological measures has shown promise in enhancing utility of biomarkers to detect disease. Objective: The present study sought to develop cognitive-biomarker profiles for detection of MCI. Methods: Data were analyzed on 463 participants (normal control n = 378; MCI n = 85) from HABLE. Random forest analyses determined proteomic profile of MCI. Separate linear regression analyses determined variance accounted for by select biomarkers per neuropsychological measure. When neuropsychological measure with the least shared variance was identified, it was then combined with select biomarkers to create a biomarker-cognitive profile. Results: The biomarker-cognitive profile was 90% accurate in detecting MCI. Among amnestic MCI cases, the detection accuracy of the biomarker-cognitive profile was 92% and increased to 94% with demographic variables. Conclusion: The biomarker-cognitive profile for MCI was highly accurate in its detection with use of only five biomarkers.