National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Miller School of Medicine, John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami, Miami.
Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2020 Apr-Jun;34(2):105-111. doi: 10.1097/WAD.0000000000000380.
The field of dementia research is rapidly evolving, especially with regards to our understanding of the diversity of neuropathologic changes that underlie cognitive decline. Definitions and criteria for known conditions are being periodically revised and refined, and new findings are being made about neuropathologic features associated with dementia status. The database maintained by the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) offer researchers a robust, rapid, and statistically well-powered method to evaluate the implications of newly identified neuropathologic conditions with regards to comorbidities, demographic associations, cognitive status, neuropsychologic tests, radiographic findings, and genetics. NACC data derive from dozens of excellent US Alzheimer disease research centers, which collectively follow thousands of research volunteers longitudinally. Many of the research participants are autopsied using state-of-the-art methods. In this article, we describe the NACC database and give examples of its use in evaluating recently revised neuropathologic diagnoses, including primary age-related tauopathy (PART), limbic predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE), and the preclinical stage of Alzheimer disease neuropathologic change, based on the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association consensus guidelines. The dementia research community is encouraged to make use of this readily available database as new neuropathologic changes are recognized and defined in this rapidly evolving field.
痴呆症研究领域正在迅速发展，尤其是在我们对认知能力下降所涉及的神经病理学变化多样性的理解方面。针对已知疾病的定义和标准正在定期修订和完善，并且关于与痴呆症相关的神经病理学特征也有新的发现。由国家阿尔茨海默病协调中心 (NACC) 维护的数据库为研究人员提供了一种强大、快速且在统计学上具有强大功能的方法，可评估新确定的神经病理学状况对合并症、人口统计学关联、认知状态、神经心理学测试、影像学发现和遗传学的影响。NACC 数据来自数十个优秀的美国阿尔茨海默病研究中心，这些中心共同对数千名研究志愿者进行纵向跟踪。许多研究参与者都使用最先进的方法进行尸检。在本文中，我们将描述 NACC 数据库，并举例说明如何使用该数据库评估最近修订的神经病理学诊断，包括原发性年龄相关性 tau 病 (PART)、边缘型主要年龄相关性 TDP-43 脑病 (LATE) 以及根据国家老龄化研究所-阿尔茨海默病协会共识指南确定的阿尔茨海默病神经病理学变化的临床前阶段。鼓励痴呆症研究界在这个快速发展的领域中识别和定义新的神经病理学变化时，利用这个现成的数据库。
