ARTS is associated with vascular risk factors, MCI, dementia, and stroke

Abstract

Introduction: ARTS, an in vivo marker of cerebral arteriolosclerosis, may identify older individuals at risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia, and stroke due to cerebral small vessel disease, but deeper characterization in a large, diverse sample is needed.

Methods: Associations between ARTS and incident MCI, dementia, and stroke, and with several common vascular risk factors, were examined in 1226 older adults without dementia and within White (n = 707), Black (n = 400), and Latino (n = 110) subgroups.

Results: Higher ARTS score was associated (all ps < 0.01) with incident MCI (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.29), dementia (HR = 1.33), and stroke (HR = 1.52) and with diastolic/systolic blood pressure, self-reported hypertension, claudication, congestive heart failure, smoking, and glomerular filtration rate in the combined sample. Results varied across racial and ethnic groups.

Discussion: ARTS has utility as an in vivo marker of cerebral arteriolosclerosis and risk of MCI, dementia, and stroke.

Highlights: ARTS score, an in vivo marker of cerebral arteriolosclerosis, was associated with incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia, and stroke in a diverse sample. ARTS score was associated with incident dementia in the non-Latino (NL) White and NL Black subgroups separately. ARTS score was associated with incident MCI in the NL Black subgroup. Common vascular risk factors were associated with ARTS score, consistent with ex vivo studies. ARTS has utility as a marker for the risk of MCI, dementia, and stroke.

Keywords: ARTS; Black; Latino; aging; arteriolosclerosis; cerebral small vessel disease; dementia; magnetic resonance imaging.

FIGURE 1

Sample derivation. AA Core, African American Core; LATC, Latino Core; MAP, Memory and Aging Project; MARS, Minority Aging Research Study; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; QC, quality control; ROS, Religious Orders Study

FIGURE 2

Arteriolosclerosis (ARTS) score distributions for the total sample and the White, Black, and Latino subgroups