Association of cerebral white matter lesions with cognitive function and mood in Japanese elderly people: a population‐based study

Abstract

BackgroundTo determine the relationships between regional white matter lesions (WMLs), lifestyle factors, and cognitive, motor function and mood.MethodsA comprehensive evaluation, including brain MRI, blood tests, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, the Mini Mental State Examination, and the Geriatric Depression Scale, was performed for people aged 65 years or older living in Ama-cho on October 1, 2009. Participants were classified by severity of periventricular hyperintensities (PVH) and deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMH) using the Fazekas score.ResultsOf 900 eligible participants, 688 (76.4%) were enrolled, including 303 men. Significant predictors of severe PVH were older age, lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, elevated blood pressure (BP), cerebral infarction, and no current alcohol use. Significant predictors of severe DWMH were older age, lower 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG) levels, elevated BP, cerebral infarction, and no current alcohol use. Higher cognitive function was associated with younger age, female sex, mild DWMH, more years of education, and higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Depressive symptoms were associated with lower 1,5-AG levels, lower LDL-C levels, moderate to severe PVH, and no current alcohol use.ConclusionsWhite matter lesions in elderly people were related to hypertension and impaired glucose tolerance. The severity of WMLs was associated with cognitive function and mood.

Information processing speed mediates the relationship between white matter and general intelligence in schizophrenia

“…Previous studies have examined associations between intelligence and white matter structure in healthy controls, albeit usually with respect to individual cognitive tests and/or individual white matter tracts (Nestor et al, 2010(Nestor et al, , 2008Ohtani et al, 2014;Pérez-Iglesias et al, 2010;Ritchie et al, 2015;Royle et al, 2013;Yamawaki et al, 2015). This is the first time, to our knowledge, where principal components of white matter water diffusion parameters and a broad variety of cognitive domains have been analysed in a clinical cohort diagnosed with schizophrenia.…”

Cerebrovascular Dysfunction in Preeclamptic Pregnancies

“…This concept is supported by the observation that, in an elderly population, hypertension was associated with increased frequency of WML on MRI imaging [78]. Aukes et al evaluated the presence and severity of WML in women with a prior history of preeclampsia and the relationship to current cardiovascular risk status and neurologic symptoms during their index pregnancies [6].…”

Association between Leukoaraiosis and Poor Outcome is not due to Reperfusion Inefficiency after Intravenous Thrombolysis

“…The presence of decreased neuronal network connectivity due to demyelination, loss of axons, and cortical thinning would impair plasticity and inhibit recovery for patients with severe LA [11,26], besides the large infarct expansion. Furthermore, LA is a well-known risk factor for premorbid or post-stroke cognitive impairment and depression [27,28], which would also adversely affect patients' compliance with treatment and rehabilitation programs. A recent study also gave support to this finding, which revealed that severe periventricular LA was associated with poor motor function outcome, whereas deep LA grade was inversely correlated with cognitive function outcome following inpatient convalescent rehabilitation after adjusting for initial severity and age [29].…”