A very long-running study involving 290 people at risk of Alzheimer's has found that, in those 81 people who developed MCI or dementia, subtle changes in cognitive test scores were evident 11 to 15 years before the onset of clear cognitive impairment. They also showed increases in the rate of change of tau protein in cerebrospinal fluid an average of 34.4 years (for t-tau, or total Tau) and 13 years (for a modified version called p-tau) before the beginning of cognitive impairment.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-05/jhm-bcl051419.php
Reference:
[4430]
(2019). Identifying Changepoints in Biomarkers During the Preclinical Phase of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. 11,