Older adults with subjective memory complaints and brain amyloidosis show stable electroencephalographic rhythms, cortical structure, and cognitive performances over 2 years

Sep 30, 2026

Background: In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), especially among individuals with high education, cognitive performance often remains better than expected relative to neuropathology and neurodegeneration burden, a pattern linked to cognitive reserve (CR). Prior eyes-closed resting-state EEG (rsEEG) work associated posterior alpha rhythms with CR in healthy adults, subjective memory complaints (SMC) seniors, and mild cognitive impairment due to AD. Method: Using the INSIGHT cohort, investigators tested whether older adults with SMC and brain amyloid-β accumulation show 2-year clinical progression as a function of educational attainment. Results: Edu+ participants with SMCneg showed higher posterior rsEEG alpha rhythms; SMCpos Edu+ showed lower posterior alpha rhythms and reduced parietal cortical thickness; no EEG or MRI markers changed. Conclusion: Longer follow-up beyond 2 years is needed to assess AD progression and biomarker-guided therapies in presymptomatic SMCpos adults.

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DOI: 10. 1002/alz70856_106502 BIOMARKERS POSTER PRESENTATION BIOMARKERS (NON-NEUROIMAGING) Older adults with subjective memory complaints and brain amyloidosis showstable electroencephalographic rhythms, cortical structure, and cognitive performances over 2 years Susanna Lopez1 Harald Hampel2 Roberta Lizio 1, 4 Stefan J. Teipel5 Raffaele Ferri8 Matteo Pardini9 Claudio Del Percio 1 Giuseppe Noce3 Martin Dyrba6 Andrea Vergallo7 Claudio Babiloni 1, 10 1Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy 2Sorbonne University, GRC n◦ 21, Alzheimer Precision Medicine (APM), AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Boulevard de L’hôpital, F-75013, Paris, France 3 IRCCS Synlab SDN, Naples, Italy 4 Oasi Research Institute – IRCCS, Troina, Italy, Troina, Italy, Italy 5 Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Rostock University Medical Center, Rostock, Germany 6 German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany 7Sorbonne University, GRC n◦ 21, Alzheimer Precision Medicine (APM), AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Boulevard del’hôpital, F-75013, Paris, France 8 Oasi Research Institute-IRCCS, Troina, Italy 9 DINOGMI, Università degli studi di Genova, Genova, Italy 10San Raffaele Cassino, Cassino, Italy Correspondence Susanna Lopez, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. [Email:](Email: susanna.lopez@uniroma1.it)[ susanna.lopez@uniroma1.it](Email: susanna.lopez@uniroma1.it) Abstract Background: It is well-known that in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and high education attainment, cognitive performance is typically better than expected based on the burden of brain neuropathology and neurodegeneration (Stern et al., 2018; doi: 10. 1016/j. neuroimage.2018.05.033). This resilience of the cognitive status was attributed to a sort of cognitive reserve (CR) accumulated by persons with high education attainment, which predicts a life with engaging job, intellectual, and social demands (Arenaza-Urquijo et al. 2015; doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2015.00134; Stern et al. 2018). Previous resting-state eyes-closed electroencephalographic (rsEEG) studies showed that alpha rhythms in posterior visual and visuospatial areas are related to CR in healthy adults, subjective memory complaints (SMC) seniors, and patients with mild cognitive impairment due toAD (ADMCI). Method: In the present exploratory study, we used the database of the INSIGHT cohort (Dubois et al., 2018; doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30029-2), we investigated whether older adults with subjective memory complaints (SMC) and brain amyloid-β accumulation may exhibit clinical progression over 2 years as a function of educational attainment (a proxy of cognitive reserve). Result: SMCneg with high educational attainment (Edu+) participants showed greater posterior rsEEG alpha rhythms compared to SMCneg with low educational attainment (Edu-)participants. In contrast, SMCposEdu+ participants exhibited reduced posterior rsEEG alpha rhythms and parietal cortical thickness compared to SMCpos Eduparticipants. No EEG (Figure 1) or MRI (Figure 2) marker significantly changed over the 2-year follow-up period This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2025 The Alzheimer’s Association. Alzheimer’s & Dementia published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer’s Association. Alzheimer’s Dement. 2025;21(Suppl. 2):e106502. [https://doi.org/10.1002/alz70856_106502](https://doi.org/10.1002/alz70856_106502) wi[leyonlinelibrary.com/journal/alz](leyonlinelibrary.com/journal/alz) 1of3 Conclusion: These findings suggest that a substantially longer time interval than 2 years should be assessed to evaluate the Alzheimer’s disease progression and biomarker-guided targeted therapies in presymptomatic SMCpos adults. BIOMARKERS

FAQs

What role does cognitive reserve play in the study’s rationale?

The study links better-than-expected cognitive performance in highly educated AD patients to cognitive reserve, proposed to support neural and cognitive resilience despite neuropathology and neurodegeneration burden.

How did the researchers evaluate educational attainment and disease progression?

The exploratory analysis used the INSIGHT cohort database to examine whether older adults with subjective memory complaints and brain amyloid-β accumulation show clinical progression over two years according to educational attainment as a proxy for cognitive reserve.

What EEG and brain structural differences were observed between education groups?

SMCneg with high education (Edu+) showed greater posterior rsEEG alpha rhythms than SMCneg with low education (Edu-). SMCpos Edu+ showed reduced posterior rsEEG alpha rhythms and lower parietal cortical thickness compared with SMCpos Edu-.

Sep 30, 2026

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