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. 2015 Oct 26:4:108-114.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbacli.2015.10.001. eCollection 2015 Dec.

Baseline white matter microstructural integrity is not related to cognitive decline after 5 years: The RUN DMC study

I W M van Uden  1 , H M van der Holst  1 , P Schaapsmeerders  2 , A M Tuladhar  1 , A G W van Norden  3 , K F de Laat  4 , D G Norris  5 , J A H R Claassen  6 , E J van Dijk  1 , E Richard  1 , R P C Kessels  7 , F-E de Leeuw  1
Affiliations

Baseline white matter microstructural integrity is not related to cognitive decline after 5 years: The RUN DMC study

I W M van Uden et al. BBA Clin. .

Abstract
in Dutch, Dutch

Objectives: Traditional markers of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) are related to cognition and cognitive decline, but this relation is weak. Therefore other factors may determine the transition from intact cognitive performance to cognitive decline, such as the damage of the cerebral white matter at the microstructural level. Little is known about the association between microstructural integrity of the white matter and changes in cognition. In this study we investigated the relation between baseline microstructural integrity and change in cognitive function.

Methods: 503 participants of the RUN DMC study with SVD without dementia, 398 of whom (79.1%) underwent repeated cognitive testing at follow-up, with a mean follow-up time of 5.4 years (± SD 0.2), and among others FLAIR MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). At baseline Mean Diffusivity (MD) and mean Fractional Anisotropy (FA) were measured in both white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and normal appearing white matter (NAWM). A linear regression analysis was performed assessing the association between baseline diffusion parameters and decline in cognitive domains.

Results: An inverse association was found between baseline MD in the NAWM and decline in Cognitive Index (β = 0.17; p = 0.035), adjusted for age, sex, education, presence of depressive symptoms at baseline, normalized TBV, lacunes and WMH volume. However, no significant associations were found between diffusion parameters and decline in any cognitive domain after Bonferroni correction.

Conclusions: In contrast to cross-sectional studies, in older adults with SVD microstructural integrity of the white matter as assessed with DTI is not related to decline in global cognitive function or any other subdomain.

•DTI can provide information on microstructural white matter integrity.•White matter microstructural integrity is not related to cognitive decline in SVD.•These results are in contrast with cross-sectional findings.•Other factors than white matter microstructural damage underlie this cognitive decline.

Keywords: Cerebral small vessel disease; Cognition; Diffusion tensor imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Microstructural integrity; White matter.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart study design baseline and follow-up. Baseline and follow-up study population are indicated by double-lined boxes. MRI: magnetic resonance imaging.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Composite z-scores at baseline and follow-up. Bar represents the standard error. Apart from the domains visuospatial memory and concept shifting, participants score on average worse on follow-up test than at baseline. z-Scores of the follow-up are calculated with the mean and standard deviation from the baseline.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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