Increased CSF tau is associated with a higher risk of seizures in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Neurofibrillary tangles and tau protein, the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD), have been identified in patients with epilepsy. Tau protein was also associated with the modulation of neuronal excitability in animal models of AD. We evaluated in 292 patients with AD the association between the risk of seizure development and AD cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, demographic characteristics, baseline Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score, comorbidities, and apolipoprotein E status. The development of seizures was associated with younger age at dementia's onset, lower baseline MMSE, and higher CSF total tau protein levels, but only MMSE (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.935; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.903, 0.968]; p