Slow progression of white-matter changes.
A three-year follow-up of 273 participants (mean age 60 years) of the Austrian Stroke Prevention Study provides the first information on the rate, clinical predictors, and cognitive consequences of MRI white-matter lesions in elderly individuals without neuropsychiatric disease. Lesion progression was found in 17.9% of individuals over a time period of 3 years. Diastolic blood pressure and early confluent or confluent white-matter hyperintensities at baseline were the only significant predictors of white-matter hyperintensity progression. Lesion progression had no influence on the course of neuropsychologic test performance over the observational period, but the statistical power of this analysis was low.
Schmidt
Reinhold
R
Department of Neurology, Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria. reinhold.schmidt@kfunigraz.ac.at
Schmidt
Helena
H
Kapeller
Peter
P
Fazekas
Franz
F
D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000473:pathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012307:Risk Factors