Neuritic 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 neuritic plaque burden.
Neuritic plaque pathology counts by region:
| Region | Variable |
|---|---|
| Entorhinal cortex | plaq_n_ec |
| Hippocampus (CA1) | plaq_n_hip |
| Midtemporal cortex | plaq_n_mt |
| Inferior parietal cortex | plaq_n_ag |
| Midfrontal cortex | plaq_n_mf |
| Burden across regions | plaq_n |
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 neuritic plaque burden is computed.
Item level variables are available upon request.
This variable replaces np.