The University of Miami Brain Bank Cohort was ascertained through self-referred cases and controls to the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) NeuroBioBank, one of six designated brain and tissue biorepositories in the nation. Medical records are available on all cases and controls, all of whom were tested before death for cognitive function.

Subjects included in the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank cohort include individuals who were donors to the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank from 1986 to 2020. Donors were either individuals with history of cognitive impairment and neuropathological changes consistent with Alzheimer disease, or cognitively unaffected individuals without such neuropathological changes. Participants were recruited from community organizations, organ/tissue donation program registries, or self-referral. This is an autopsy-based study designed to analyze post-mortem brain tissue. Medical records are also obtained as available to help correlate brain behavior relationships.