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. 2022 Mar 21:11:9-13.
doi: 10.14283/jarlife.2022.2. eCollection 2022.

Clinical Ratings of White Matter Hyperintensities, Hippocampal Ratings, and Neuropsychological Functioning from The Cache County Memory Study

T J Farrer  1 , E D Bigler  2   3 , Y H W Tsui-Caldwell  2 , T J Abildskov  4 , J A T Tschanz  5   6 , M C Norton  5   6   7 , K A Welsh-Bohmer  1
Affiliations

Clinical Ratings of White Matter Hyperintensities, Hippocampal Ratings, and Neuropsychological Functioning from The Cache County Memory Study

T J Farrer et al. JAR Life. .

Abstract

Objective: White matter burden and medial temporal atrophy are associated with cognitive health. A large epidemiological database, such as the Cache County Memory Study (CCMS), can provide additional insight into how visual clinical ratings of brain structural integrity predict cognition in older adults.

Method: We used the Scheltens Ratings Scale to quantify white matter lesion burden and medial temporal atrophy in the CCMS sample to determine if these qualitative markers are predictive of memory function. We performed clinical ratings of MRI scans across two ascertainment periods among 187 community-dwelling older adults and correlated these ratings with MMSE, CERAD memory performance, and general cognitive ability.

Results: Higher Scheltens ratings measuring white matter and basal ganglia hyperintensities were associated with lower memory performance (r = 0.21). The strongest correlations were observed between medial temporal atrophy and general cognition performance (r = 0.32).

Conclusions: The current findings support previous research that the integrity of different regions of the brain correlate to function in a meaningful way.

Keywords: Cache County; Scheltens Rating Scale; aging; clinical ratings;; memory; white matter hyperintensity.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

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