Psychometric approaches to defining cognitive phenotypes in the Old Order Amish.

Memory and cognitive problems are central to the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Psychometric approaches to defining phenotypes can aid in identify genetic variants associated with AD. However, these approaches have mostly been limited to affected individuals. Defining phenotypes of both affected and unaffected individuals may help identify genetic variants associated with both AD and healthy aging. This study compares psychometric methods for developing cognitive phenotypes that are more granular than clinical classifications.