The CAIDE dementia risk score indicates elevated cognitive risk in late adulthood: a structural and functional neuroimaging study

Katalin Farkas; Timea Lazar; Melinda Becske; Janos Andras Zsuffa; Viktoria Rosenfeld; Dalida Borbala Berente; Gergo Bolla; Janos Negyesi; Andras Attila Horvath

doi:10.1007/s11357-025-01766-8

The CAIDE dementia risk score indicates elevated cognitive risk in late adulthood: a structural and functional neuroimaging study

Geroscience. 2025 Jun 26. doi: 10.1007/s11357-025-01766-8. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Katalin Farkas¹, Timea Lazar^{2

3}, Melinda Becske^{2

3}, Janos Andras Zsuffa^{3

4}, Viktoria Rosenfeld^{2

3}, Dalida Borbala Berente^{3

5}, Gergo Bolla^{2

3}, Janos Negyesi^{3

6

7}, Andras Attila Horvath^{8

9

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 26 Ulloi Ut, 1085, Budapest, Hungary.
² School of PhD Studies, Semmelweis University, 26 Ulloi Ut, 1085, Budapest, Hungary.
³ Nyiro Gyula National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictology, Neurocognitive Research Centre, 59-61 Lehel Utca, 1135, Budapest, Hungary.
⁴ Department of Family Medicine, Semmelweis University, 25 Ulloi Ut, 1085, Budapest, Hungary.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Semmelweis University, 57 Amerikai Ut, 1145, Budapest, Hungary.
⁶ Department of Kinesiology, Hungarian University of Sports Science, 42-48 Alkotas Utca, 1123, Budapest, Hungary.
⁷ CRU Hungary Ltd, 9-11 Csabai Kapu, 3529, Miskolc, Hungary.
⁸ Nyiro Gyula National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictology, Neurocognitive Research Centre, 59-61 Lehel Utca, 1135, Budapest, Hungary. andras.horvath.semmelweis@gmail.com.
⁹ Department of Anatomy Histology and Embryology, Semmelweis University, 58 Tuzolto Utca, 1094, Budapest, Hungary. andras.horvath.semmelweis@gmail.com.
¹⁰ HUN-REN, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 2 Magyar Tudosok Korutja, 1117, Budapest, Hungary. andras.horvath.semmelweis@gmail.com.
¹¹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Alameda da Universidade, 1649-004, Lisbon, Portugal. andras.horvath.semmelweis@gmail.com.

PMID: 40569543
DOI: 10.1007/s11357-025-01766-8

Abstract

While the CAIDE score is an established mid-life risk assessment tool for the longitudinal prediction of dementia, its application as a measure of elevated cognitive risk in late adulthood is unclear. One hundred one healthy individuals (aged > 55) were tested using detailed neuropsychological assessments, as well as structural and functional MRI. Participants were divided into a low-risk group (CAIDE < 7) and a high-risk group (CAIDE > 6). High-risk participants had significantly worse cognitive performance in the Trail-Making Test results (TMT-B: t = -4.03, p = 0.0001), and significantly smaller global brain volumes (e.g., brain segmentation volume: t = 2.898, p = 0.0485) and regional volumes (e.g., accumbens volumes: t_left = 3.928, p = 0.036, Cohen's d = 0.828; t_right = 3.151, p₌ 0.0485, Cohen's d = 0.656). High-risk participants also showed a trend for reduced functional connectivity in the default mode, salience, and central attention networks. Overall, the CAIDE score might help identify cognitively high-risk individuals in a late adulthood population.

Keywords: Brain atrophy; CAIDE score; Cognitive risk; Functional neuroimaging; Late adulthood; Neuropsychology.

Grants and funding

Lendulet-2023_94/Magyar Tudományos Akadémia