Good news! Seems to be a very comprehensive study of people younger than 40 and their risk to affected Alzheimer's Disease.
Apparently, some well established biomarkers identified for older people also apply to younger people.
"A new study by researchers ... suggests that risk factors and biomarkers related to Alzheimer’s disease are associated with cognition much earlier in life than previously recognized. The study highlights significant associations between cognition and Alzheimer’s disease risk factors as young as ages 24 to 44 and underscores the importance of early prevention.
This is the first study to systematically examine Alzheimer’s disease risk factors, including biomarkers related to cognitive impairment, in a large group of generally healthy middle-aged individuals in the U.S. ...
“Previously, research on Alzheimer’s disease risk factors has focused on individuals aged 50 and older,” ...
the results reveal that several well-established risk factors and blood biomarkers are linked to cognitive function even before midlife. These earlier life associations provide a baseline for predicting long-term trajectories of cognitive decline. “Additionally, we learned that certain Alzheimer’s risk factors—such as cardiovascular health, ATN (amyloid, tau, neurodegeneration), and immune biomarkers—are present and related to cognition in individuals in their forties and even earlier.” ...
ATN biomarker and several immune markers showed associations with cognitive function before midlife. However, a key genetic risk factor, APOE, did not appear to affect participants in these middle years and may not become evident until later in life. ..."
From the abstract:
"Background
Alzheimer’s disease is a major health concern in the U.S., but most research has focused on older populations. We examined whether established risk factors and blood biomarkers are associated with cognition before midlife.
Methods
Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) were analyzed. Participants were enrolled in 1994–95 (grades 7–12) and followed through 2018.
We cross-sectionally analyzed weighted survey and biomarker data from Waves IV and V.
We measured the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia (CAIDE) score comprised of age, education, sex, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, and physical activity and apolipoprotein E ε4 allele (APOE ε4) status.
We also measured total Tau and Neurofilament light (NfL), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), Interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Outcomes included immediate word recall, delayed word recall, and backward digit span.
Findings
Analytic sample sizes ranged from 4507 to 11,449 participants in Wave IV and from 529 to 1121 participants in Wave V.
The survey-weighted median (IQR) age was 28 (26–29) years in Wave IV and 38 (36–29) years in Wave V.
About half of the survey-weighted Wave IV participants were female (48.4–52.1% across analytic samples), 71.4–72.5% were White, 12.5–14.9% were Black, and 9.3–10.2% were Hispanic. In Wave V, 43.6–46.8% were female, 68.7–69.3% were White, 17.1%–20.0% were Black, and 7.3%–9.6% were Hispanic.
The CAIDE score was associated with all cognition measures in Wave IV. For example, among adults aged 24–34, each 1-point increase in CAIDE was associated with a 0.03 standard deviation lower backward digit span score (95% CI: −0.04, −0.02).
Total Tau was associated with immediate word recall in Wave V (β = −0.13, 95% CI: −0.23, −0.04). Wave IV hsCRP and IL-10 and Wave V IL-6, IL-1β, and IL-8 were also associated with lower cognitive scores.
Interpretation
Key risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease are linked to cognitive function as early as ages 24–44, highlighting the need for early prevention in the US."
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