A0676
Title: Mediation analysis of the effect of geriatric depression on Alzheimer's disease risk
Authors: Yuexia Zhang - The University of Texas at San Antonio (United States) [presenting]
Yubai Yuan - Penn State University (United States)
Fei Xue - Purdue University (United States)
Kecheng Wei - Fudan University (China)
Jin Zhou - UCLA (United States)
Annie Qu - University of California Irvine (United States)
Abstract: Depression and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are both highly prevalent among older adults, yet the causal relationship between them remains underexplored. Using datasets from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) study, the aim is to examine whether geriatric depression has a significant causal effect on the risk of AD and investigate the mediating role of key biological and clinical mediators. To estimate these causal effects consistently, ultra-high-dimensional potential confounders are controlled for, including DNA methylation levels, applying a ball correlation-based method for confounder selection within the mediation analysis. To ensure robustness against model misspecification, a robust mediation analysis framework is adopted. Findings indicate a significantly positive causal effect of geriatric depression on AD risk. Based on these insights, new prevention and treatment strategies for geriatric depression and Alzheimer's disease can be proposed by targeting the identified confounders and mediators.
