Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40169870›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Association of the digital clock drawing test with amyloid and tau PET biomarkers in low age risk adults.

Huitong Ding, Chenglin Lyu, Cody Karjadi, Preeti Sunderaraman, Christina B Young, Elizabeth C Mormino, Spencer Low, Sherral Devine, Katherine Gifford, Rhoda Au and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Huitong DingDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Chenglin LyuDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Cody KarjadiDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Preeti SunderaramanThe Framingham Heart Study, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Christina B YoungDepartment of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Elizabeth C MorminoDepartment of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Spencer LowDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Sherral DevineDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Katherine GiffordDepartment of Neurology, Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Rhoda AuDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. rhodaau@bu.edu.
Honghuang LinDepartment of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA. honghuang.lin@umassmed.edu.

Funding

TBDU19AG068753 · NIA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI Lindsay A. Farrer · 2020 to 2026
$42.4M
PRECURSORS OF STROKE INCIDENCE AND PROGNOSISR01NS017950 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER · PI Hugo Javier Aparicio, Jose Rafael Romero · 1985 to 2026
$22.9M
EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DEMENTIA IN THE FRAMINGHAM STUDYR01AG008122 · NIA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI AU, RHODA, SESHADRI, SUDHA · 1989 to 2015
$14.4M
MRI, Genetics &Cognitive Precursors of AD &DementiaR01AG016495 · NIA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI AU, RHODA · 1999 to 2016
$12.5M
Social and behavioral determinants of health and Alzheimer’s Disease: Cohort study of the US military veteran populationR01AG080670 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL · PI HONG YU · 2023 to 2026
$4.5M
Re-visiting Methods for MCI Diagnosis to Improve Biomarker and Trial FindingsR01AG049810 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI BONDI, MARK W, EDLAND, STEVEN DYAL · 2016 to 2020
$3.7M
Epigenetic changes in synaptic and inflammatory genes involved in the age-dependent development of Alzheimer's disease pathologies andcognitive declineRF1AG054156 · NIA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI AU, RHODA, RYU, HOON · 2016 to 2018
$3.4M
Assessing Alzheimer disease risk and heterogeneity using multimodal machine learning approachesU01AG068221 · NIA · UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER · PI DESTEFANO, ANITA L, LIN, HONGHUANG · 2021 to 2024
$2.5M
Digital Cognitive Assessment of Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease and Related DementiasR01AG083735 · NIA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI Rhoda Au, Vijaya B. Kolachalama · 2024 to 2026
$2.4M
MicroRNAs as Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker of Alzheimer's DiseaseRF1AG078299 · NIA · RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL · PI BLUSZTAJN, JAN KRZYSZTOF, DELALLE, IVANA · 2022 to 2022
$2.4M
Cognitive Heterogeneity in those with high Alzheimer's Disease RiskRF1AG062109 · NIA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI AU, RHODA · 2020 to 2021
$1.8M
Cognitive heterogeneity in those with high Alzheimer's Disease RiskR01AG062109 · NIA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI Rhoda Au, Vijaya B. Kolachalama · 2025 to 2026
$1.6M
NHLBI NIH HHS N01 HC025195NHLBI NIH HHS R21 HL175584NIA NIH HHS K99 AG071837NIA NIH HHS R01 AG008122NIA NIH HHS R01 AG016495NIA NIH HHS R01 AG049810NIA NIH HHS R01 AG062109NIA NIH HHS R01 AG078299NIA NIH HHS R01 AG080670NIA NIH HHS R01 AG083735NIA NIH HHS R56 AG062109NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG054156NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG062109NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG078299NIA NIH HHS U01 AG068221NIA NIH HHS U19 AG068753NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS017950
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Although brain amyloid and tau deposition measured by PET scans are established as biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD), they can emerge decades before symptoms are detectable on traditional neuropsychological (NP) tests. There is a pressing need for early AD detection tools that are more accessible, cost-effective, and non-invasive. The digital clock drawing test (dCDT), a digital version of the clock drawing test, has emerged as a promising cognitive assessment tool that takes minutes to administer and can reveal clinical symptoms earlier than paper-pencil NP tests. This study explored the association between 53 dCDT measures and amyloid and tau PET biomarkers using data from 87 low age risk participants in the Framingham Heart Study. Our findings revealed a significant association between a dCDT measure related to spatial reasoning function and global amyloid burden (P < 0.05), and 4 dCDT measures correlated with tau accumulation after adjusting for multiple comparisons. Notably, the combination of demographic variables and a composite dCDT score achieved a mean area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.86 in detecting amyloid positivity. These results highlight the potential of dCDT measures as effective predictors of amyloid and tau pathology in preclinical AD.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseAmyloidNeuropsychological TestsPositron-Emission Tomographytau ProteinsAdultAgedBiomarkersBrainFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedAmyloidBiomarkerstau ProteinsAmyloidAssociationDigital clock drawing testPETTau

Identifiers

PMID40169870
PMCPMC11961701

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.