1. Combined Effect of Cerebral Hypoperfusion and White Matter Lesions on Executive Functioning – The SMART-MR Study
- Author
-
Auke P.A. Appelman, Y. van der Graaf, W. P. T. M. Mali, M.I. Geerlings, and Koen L. Vincken
- Subjects
Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Pathology ,Cognitive Neuroscience ,Neuropsychological Tests ,Magnetic resonance angiography ,Education ,Cohort Studies ,White matter ,Executive Function ,Cognition ,Risk Factors ,Internal medicine ,Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ,medicine ,Humans ,Dementia ,Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance ,Aged ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Cognitive disorder ,Neuropsychology ,Cerebral Infarction ,Middle Aged ,Verbal Learning ,medicine.disease ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Hyperintensity ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Socioeconomic Factors ,Cerebral blood flow ,Cerebrovascular Circulation ,Linear Models ,Cardiology ,Female ,Cerebral Arterial Diseases ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,business ,circulatory and respiratory physiology - Abstract
Background/Aims: It has been hypothesized that cerebral hypoperfusion may contribute to cognitive deterioration. Patients with white matter lesions (WML) may be more vulnerable to a decrease in cerebral blood flow (CBF) due to an impaired autoregulation. We investigated the association between CBF and cognitive performance and whether WML modified this relation. Methods: Within the SMART-MR study, a cohort study among patients with manifest arterial disease, cross-sectional analyses were performed in 472 patients (mean age 57 ± 10 years, 77% male). Total CBF was measured with magnetic resonance angiography in the internal carotid arteries and basilar artery, and was expressed per 100 ml brain volume. Neuropsychological tests assessing executive functioning and memory were performed and composite scores were calculated. We used linear regression analyses, adjusted for age, sex, education and intelligence, to investigate the association between CBF and cognitive performance. Results: We found that WML modified the association between CBF and executive functioning (p for interaction Conclusion: Our results suggest that a combination of lower CBF and WML may impair executive functioning but not memory.
- Published
- 2010