Cognitive Profile of Amyloid Burden and White Matter Hyperintensities in Cognitively Normal Older Adults
Year: 2012
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Amyloid burden and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are two common markers of neurodegeneration present in advanced aging. Each represents a potential early indicator of an age-related neurological disorder that impacts cognition. The presence of amyloid is observed in a substantial subset of cognitively normal older adults, but the literature remains equivocal regarding whether amyloid in nondemented populations is deleterious to cognition. Similarly, WMH are detected in many nondemented older adults and there is a body of evidence indicating that WMH are associated with decreased executive function and other cognitive domains. The current study investigated amyloid burden and WMH in clinically normal older adult humans aged 65-86 (N = 168) and examined each biomarker's relation with cognitive domains of episodic memory, executive function, and speed of processing. Factors for each domain were derived from a neuropsychological battery on a theoretical basis without reference to the relation between cognition and the biomarkers. Amyloid burden and WMH were not correlated with one another. Age was associated with lower performance in all cognitive domains, while higher estimated verbal intelligence was associated with higher performance in all domains. Hypothesis-driven tests revealed that amyloid burden and WMH had distinct cognitive profiles, with amyloid burden having a specific influence on episodic memory and WMH primarily associated with executive function but having broad (but lesser) effects on the other domains. These findings suggest that even before clinical impairment, amyloid burden and WMH likely represent neuropathological cascades with distinct etiologies and dissociable influences on cognition.
Source: Journal of Neuroscience
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G1689143091, Influence of Age-related Neuropathology on Functional Brain Networks, G1865263550, G1947016736, G2227408383, G3070351724, G393103480, Mentoring Imaging Research in Early AD, G4663119878, Center for Functional Imaging Technologies, G5951230003, Computeserver Structural &Functional Image Analysis, Evolution of memory related fMRI activation over the course of MCI and AD, G668207740, Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, G813722187, G824017836, A Storage Area Network for Structural and Functional Image Analysis, Neural Processes Underlying Cognitive Aging, G9000074708, G9000121663, Impact of Amyloid and Tau on the Aging Brain: The Harvard Aging Brain Study, Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (MADRC), Silicon Graphics Prism Extreme 128P/1TB
OpenAlex ID: W2115296012