Of the 220 protein measures that were significantly associated with general cognitive function in the discovery analyses among participants aged ≥25 or 65, 20 were associated with incident dementia in the ARIC study, including growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), sushi, von Willebrand factor type A, EGF and pentraxin domain containing 1 (SVEP1), and natriuretic peptide B (NPPB)7, 9, 67 were associated with cognitive decline7, and 21 were associated with general cognitive ability (Supplementary Data 12)13. Here, GDF15 is linked to dementia.