About the dataset

Primary description: Alzheimer’s risk and cognitive decline

The Biomarkers of Cognitive Decline Among Normal Individuals (BIOCARD) study was initiated by the Geriatric Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health in 1995. To identify biomarkers associated with the progression of cognitive impairment, BIOCARD recruited 354 cognitively healthy adults including those with a first-degree relative affected with AD. BIOCARD participants were initially admitted for a three-day long evaluation at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At this time, a detailed physical examination, neuropsychological assessment, brain MRI, and blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were obtained. Subsequently, annual evaluations were conducted at the NIH until the study closed in 2005. The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine re-opened the BIOCARD study in 2009, continuing with annual clinical and cognitive follow-up for the original BIOCARD cohort. Amyloid PET imaging using the Pi-B tracer began in 2015, and Tau PET imaging began in 2017. In BIOCARD, Johns Hopkins University continued to administer all the cognitive tests from the original protocol from NIH. The annual neuropsychological assessment covers every major cognitive domain (memory, executive function, language, visuospatial ability, attention, speed of processing, and psychomotor speed). This assessment includes TMT and CVLT cognitive tests of executive function and memory.
Study Biomarkers of Cognitive Decline Among Normal Individuals
Study Website BIOCARD
Data Descriptor Paper https://biocard.pathology.jhu.edu/biocard-study-publication-list/
DUA https://biocard.pathology.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Data-Use-Agreement.pdf
Country/Region USA
Disease Tag alzheimers;aging
Age (mean ± SD)
(Baseline) 		58.3 ± 10.5
Age Range
(Baseline) 		20.53-86.27
% Female 58.5
CUBIC Project /cbica/projects/BIOCARD
PI for CUBIC Access Approval Christos Davatzikos
N Subjects 313
N MR Sessions 1171
Diagnoses
AD
Value V01 V02 V03 V04 V05 V06 V07 V08 V09
CN 281 219 175 129 69 27 16 6
early MCI 8 19 18 16 15 9 5 2 1
nan 5 5 2 2 5 1
MCI 4 17 18 17 11 7 3
AD 1 1 3 3 3 2
Hypertension
Value V01 V02 V03 V04 V05 V06 V07 V08 V09
nan 297 191 126 96 48 19 11 5 1
Stage2 1 30 46 30 25 13 6 3
Normal 1 37 43 38 24 16 8
Remote/inactive 3 1 3 1 2
Diabetes
Value V01 V02 V03 V04 V05 V06 V07 V08 V09
nan 297 192 126 95 48 19 11 5 1
Normal 2 57 77 66 46 27 12 3
Diabetic 10 8 6 4 3 2
Remote/inactive 2 5 1
DLMUSE (v1.0.7)
(1171/1171 complete)
/cbica/projects/BIOCARD/Pipelines/BIOCARD_DLMUSE_2025/Results/DLMUSE_Volumes.csv
RAVENS (DRAMMS-1.4.1)
(1164/1164 complete)
/cbica/projects/BIOCARD/Pipelines/BIOCARD_3.5D_DLICV_MASK_2022/Protocols/RAVENS
Non-Imaging Data
/cbica/projects/ISTAGING/Pipelines/ClinicalDataConsolidation_201911/Data/External_Data/BIOCARD

Raw data downloaded from source.

/cbica/projects/ISTAGING/Pipelines/ClinicalDataConsolidation_201911/dictionaries/BIOCARD

Data dictionary of raw data downloaded from source.

/cbica/projects/ISTAGING/Pipelines/ISTAGING_Data_Consolidation_2020/v2.0/istaging.csv

Data consolidated and harmonized in 2020.

This study: subset with df[df.Study == 'BIOCARD']

README: /cbica/projects/ISTAGING/Pipelines/ISTAGING_Data_Consolidation_2020/v2.0/README.md

Release Notes: /cbica/projects/ISTAGING/Pipelines/ISTAGING_Data_Consolidation_2020/v2.0/Release_Notes.md

/cbica/home/harmang/for_others/final_combined_istaging_withMUSE.csv

Data consolidated and harmonized in 2026.

This study: subset with df[df.Study == 'BIOCARD']


Funding
The BIOCARD study is in part supported by NIH grant U19-AG033655.