Fig. 5

Boxplot and scatter diagrams depicting the correlation of the Braak NFT stages, CERAD-scores for neuritic plaque pathology, NIA-AA scores of AD pathology, and the clinical dementia scores (CDR for cohorts 1 and 2 and MMSE for cohort 3) with the topographical Aβ parameters Aβ phase (a-d) and CAA stage (e-h), the quantitative measure of the Aβ load (i-l), and the qualitative aspect provided by the B-Aβ plaque stages (m). The boxplots are depicted separately for cohorts 1 (a, e, i, k, m), 2 (b, f), and 3 (c, d, g, h, j, l). The Braak NFT stages, CERAD scores, NIA-AA degrees of AD pathology, and CDR scores correlated with all parameters depicted here (r = 0.287–0.920, p < 0.001). Likewise, the MMSE scores showed a negative correlation with the Aβ phase and the CAA stages in cohort 3 (r = − 0.514/− 0.315, p ≤ 0.012) except for the Aβ load (p = 0.051) which showed only a trend (for detailed statistical analysis see Additional file 1: Table S7)