Cognitive Score.” The longitudinal Global Cognitive Scores are then used in a random effects model to estimate person-specific annual rates of cognitive decline controlling for known confounders such as demographics and years of education. The approach used in constructing these traits is described in detail elsewhere1,2 and can be applied to specific cognitive domains, e.g., episodic memory decline, one of the hallmarks of AD. In addition, cognitive and pathologic data can be integrated to generate new traits that capture the difference between observed cognitive function and the extent of neuropathologies present in each individual’s brain: for example, previous studies have generated measures of residual cognitive decline3 or residual cognition, after accounting for a participant’s neuropathologic burden4.
