title: Relationship between white matter changes and cognition in healthy elders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cerebral WMHs on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are common incidental findings in cognitively healthy elderly subjects. The relationship between such changes and cognitive function remains unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study evaluated the relationship between the degree of white matter changes and cognitive function using data from 172 cognitively healthy subjects who underwent MRI and a battery of neuropsychological tests. The degree of WMHs was rated using a four-point scale for images on a computer screen.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regarding the frontal and parieto-occipital regions and basal ganglia region, compared with the group with no WMHs, the group with the most severe WMHs showed significantly lower performances for attention and disorientation to time, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that even in cognitively healthy elderly individuals, presence of large WMHs affects performance on certain cognitive domains according to their localization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Musashi Hospital, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan. ota@ncnp.go.jp
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ota
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nemoto
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asada
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis