Diffuse plaque burden is determined by microscopic examination of silver-stained slides from 5 regions: midfrontal cortex, midtemporal cortex, inferior parietal cortex, entorhinal cortex, and hippocampus. The count of each region is scaled by dividing by the corresponding standard deviation. The 5 scaled regional measures are then averaged to obtain a summary measure for diffuse plaque burden.
Diffuse plaque pathology counts by region:
| Region | Variable | 
|---|---|
| Entorhinal cortex | plaq_d_ec | 
| Hippocampus (CA1) | plaq_d_hip | 
| Midtemporal cortex | plaq_d_mt | 
| Inferior parietal cortex | plaq_d_ag | 
| Midfrontal cortex | plaq_d_mf | 
| Burden across regions | plaq_d | 
Notes: Counts may be missing for regions (e.g., due to damage from infarct). If data are present for at least 2 of 5 regions, the summary measure for diffuse plaque burden is computed.
Item level variables are available upon request.
This variable replaces dp.