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A fMRI Study of Verbal Working Memory, Cardiac Output, and Ejection Fraction in Elderly Patients with Cardiovascular Disease
- Source :
- Brain Imaging and Behavior. 3:350-357
- Publication Year :
- 2009
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2009.
-
Abstract
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is associated with cognitive deficits even in the absence of stroke. We examined the relationship between cardiac performance, as measured by cardiac output (CO) and ejection fraction (EF), and brain activity during a verbal working memory (VWM) task in elderly CVD patients who tend to be at increased risk for vascular cognitive impairments. Seventeen patients were recruited from a cohort participating in an ongoing prospective study examining the effects of CVD on cognitive function in the elderly. Participants were diagnosed with CVD (age 68 ± 8) and completed a 2-back VWM task in a 1.5T fMRI paradigm. CO and EF were calculated from echocardiogram measures. Task-related activation was averaged in a priori regions of interest. The relationship between CO, EF, and 2-back-related activity was modeled using partial correlations (two-tailed p < .05) controlling for age and 2-back accuracy. All participants were globally cognitively intact as indicated by Mini-Mental Status Exam and Dementia Rating Scale scores. Mean accuracy on the 2-back was 78 ± 9% while reaction time averaged 1,027 ± 192 ms. Mean CO and EF values showed a large range (CO: 3.55 to 6.31; EF: 0.36 to 0.76) but average values were within the normal range. After controlling for age and 2-back accuracy, lower EF was related to decrease in left insula activity (r = 0.61, p = 0.03). There were trends for EF to be related to accuracy (r = 0.47, p = 0.09) and reaction time (r = −0.48, p = 0.09). CO was also related to insula activity (r = 0.60, p = 0.04) and activity in the supplementary motor area activity (r = 0.66, p = 0.01). Cardiac performance was related to decreased efficiency in task related brain areas and tended to be related to performance on a VWM task in elderly patients with CVD. Results have implications for a line of investigation indicating that cardiac and systemic vascular indices could be used as proxy measures to examine mechanisms of cerebrovascular dysfunction in the elderly.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
Cardiac output
Ejection fraction
Heart disease
Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuropsychology
medicine.disease
Article
Behavioral Neuroscience
Psychiatry and Mental health
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Neurology
Internal medicine
Cohort
medicine
Cardiology
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging
Neurology (clinical)
Psychology
Psychiatry
Prospective cohort study
Stroke
Insula
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19317565 and 19317557
- Volume :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Brain Imaging and Behavior
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....54d2c754b657773a23a604539628cb54