To determine if the findings could be replicated, the researchers turned to a large French study called MEMENTO, led by Carole Dufouil, PhD, research director at Inserm Center and adjunct director for international partnerships at the Bordeaux School of Public Health, and Geneviève Chêne, MD, PhD, professor in biostatistics and public health at Bordeaux University. They have collaborated with the Framingham researchers for more than a decade.
In that study, 367 dementia-free people who showed up at memory centers across France complaining of subjective cognitive problems or a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment had the same total tau plasma assay done, and also underwent a spinal tap so they had measurements of tau levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).The mean age of the memory clinic patients was 69 years old and they were followed over the next three to five years. By the end of…
