Incidental brain lesions on magnetic resonance imaging and neurobehavioral functions in the apparently healthy elderly.
OBJECTIVE
Controversies exist whether incidental neuroradiological brain lesions in the elderly are associated with depressed neuropsychological function. To address this important issue in a cross-sectional study, we related brain lesions on magnetic resonance imaging to a variety of cognitive and neurobehavioral function tests in an independent, normal elderly population.


METHODS
We studied 73 independent asymptomatic elderly individuals (mean +/- SD age 70 +/- 6 years) to determine the relations between degree of brain atrophy, location and number of "lacunes," and grade of periventricular hyperintense lesions with a variety of cognitive and neurobehavioral function scores.


RESULTS
We found that severity of neuroradiological changes increased while neuropsychological function scores declined with age. After adjustment for the effect of age, advanced periventricular hyperintensities, but not brain atrophy or patchy "lacunar" lesions, were associated with declines in all neuropsychological functions tested.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that incidental advanced periventricular diffuse or patchy white matter changes may play a role in the development of cognitive and neurobehavioral impairments in apparently normal elderly persons.
Matsubayashi
K
K
Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Kochi Medical School, Nankoku City, Japan.
Shimada
K
K
Kawamoto
A
A
Ozawa
T
T
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009424:Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance