Measures of white matter decline and global cognitive ability in older adults

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Measures of white matter decline and global cognitive ability in older adults Jaime L. Rennie1, Todd A. Jolly1, Pat Michie1, Christopher Levi2, Mark Parsons2, Rhoshel Lenroot3 and Frini Karayanidis1* 1 University of Newcastle, School of Psychology, Australia 2 University of Newcastle, Faculty of Health, Australia 3 University of New South Wales, Neuroscience Research Australia, Australia White matter lesions are linked with cognitive decline in older adults. Early studies quantified WML severity macroscopically by calculating total volume of white matter lesions (WML) on T2-weighted MRI images. This approach produces inconsistencies in the severity and type of cognitive decline associated with WML presence because similar volume of total whole brain WML can result from damage in distinct anatomical locations that are functionally diverse. Areas of white matter that appear normal on T2-weighted images may have reduced mean fractional anisotropy (FA) or increased mean diffusivity (MD) in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). These measures of the microstructural properties of white matter offer greater anatomical specificity than conventional WML severity quantification. In this study, we examine whether a probabilistic tract-based measure of WML severity and measures of FA and MD in the same white matter tracts offer comparable sensitivity to global cognitive decline. Session 1 included seventy healthy elderly and people with symptomatic cerebrovascular disease. WML severity and mean FA across different tracts were weakly correlated indicating that these measures tap into different aspects of white matter disruption. Mean FA showed stronger correlations with performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) than WML severity on the majority of tracts. Session 2 testing at approximately 18 months is currently being completed. Session 2 data will be presented to show how changes in WM profile is associated with cognitive profile decline and whether WML severity or mean FA/MD at session 1 are better predictors of cognitive decline at session 2. Keywords: White Matter Disease, cognitive functioning, Aging, DTI, MOCA Conference: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Executive Processes Citation: Rennie JL, Jolly TA, Michie P, Levi C, Parsons M, Lenroot R and Karayanidis F (2012). Measures of white matter decline and global cognitive ability in older adults. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00102 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 14 Oct 2012; Published Online: 07 Nov 2012. * Correspondence: Prof. Frini Karayanidis, University of Newcastle, School of Psychology, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia, frini.karayanidis@newcastle.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jaime L Rennie Todd A Jolly Pat Michie Christopher Levi Mark Parsons Rhoshel Lenroot Frini Karayanidis Google Jaime L Rennie Todd A Jolly Pat Michie Christopher Levi Mark Parsons Rhoshel Lenroot Frini Karayanidis Google Scholar Jaime L Rennie Todd A Jolly Pat Michie Christopher Levi Mark Parsons Rhoshel Lenroot Frini Karayanidis PubMed Jaime L Rennie Todd A Jolly Pat Michie Christopher Levi Mark Parsons Rhoshel Lenroot Frini Karayanidis Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.