title: Cognitive impairment in dementia: correlations with atrophy and cerebrovascular disease quantified by magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: This project assessed the contributions of atrophy and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) to cognitive impairment in dementia. Ten individuals with clinically diagnosed pure VaD were age-, sex-, and education-matched to individuals with AD. All participants underwent neuropsychological testing and MRI which were processed to generate quantitative indices of atrophy and CVD. A linear regression, including thalamic lesion and vCSF volumes, predicted cognitive status (R2 = .74; p < .0005). Three VaD subgroups were identified: thalamic lesion (n = 4), hippocampal infarcts (n = 3), and other (n = 3). In participants without thalamic lesion, vCSF predicted general cognition (R2 = .48), hippocampal atrophy predicted memory impairment (R2 = .33), and white matter lesions predicted executive dysfunction (R2 = .48). Both atrophy and CVD burden correlated highly with cognitive impairment and should be simultaneously assessed in studies of brain-behaviour relations in dementia.
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Swartz
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sela
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bronskill
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D001284:Atrophy; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*