A total of 1,081 adults without dementia (375 healthy subjects and 706 individuals with mild cognitive impairment) were recruited from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) to test the influence of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on cognitive impairment, brain structure atrophy, and change in the levels of CSF biomarkers.
Although Val66Met polymorphisms were not associated with the cross-sectional diagnoses of MCI or AD, the presence of Met-BDNF allele was associated with a higher risk of disease-progression in patients with MCI (OR=3.0 CI(95%) [1.2-7.8], P=0.02).