Primary age-related tauopathy (PART), a neuropathological diagnosis characterized by tau neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the absence of amyloid plaque pathology, has cognitive consequences that should be considered in the context of emerging tau-targeted therapies in age-associated neurodegenerative diseases, according to a recent study. Although most individuals >50 years of age have evidence of NFTs, the clinical and cognitive consequences of PART are not known. Researchers evaluated 226 neuropathologically confirmed PART cases from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center database who participated in a total of 846 longitudinal neuropsychological assessments from the Alzheimer's Disease Center program‘s Uniform Data Set. They found:

• Tau neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in PART increase with age.

• Higher stages of NFT burden in PART, with no evidence or minimal evidence of amyloid pathology, were associated with more rapid decline on tasks involving episodic and semantic memory along with tests of processing speed and attention.