title: Disrupted white matter structure underlies cognitive deficit in hypertensive patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hypertension is considered a risk factor of cognitive impairments and could result in white matter changes. Current studies on hypertension-related white matter (WM) changes focus only on regional changes, and the information about global changes in WM structure network is limited.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed the cognitive function in 39 hypertensive patients and 37 healthy controls with a battery of neuropsychological tests. The WM structural networks were constructed by utilizing diffusion tensor tractography and calculated topological properties of the networks using a graph theoretical method. The direct and indirect correlations among cognitive impairments, brain WM network disruptions and hypertension were analyzed with structural equation modelling (SEM).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hypertensive patients showed deficits in executive function, memory and attention compared with controls. An aberrant connectivity of WM networks was found in the hypertensive patients (P Eglob = 0.005, P Lp = 0.005), especially in the frontal and parietal regions. Importantly, SEM analysis showed that the decline of executive function resulted from aberrant WM networks in hypertensive patients (p = 0.3788, CFI = 0.99).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the cognitive decline in hypertensive patients was due to frontal and parietal WM disconnections. Our findings highlight the importance of brain protection in hypertension patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • Hypertension has a negative effect on the performance of the cognitive domains • Reduced efficiencies of white matter networks were shown in hypertension • Disrupted white matter networks are responsible for poor cognitive function in hypertension.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.|BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.|BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.|BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Junying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.|BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yaojing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China.|Banner Alzheimer's Institute, Phoenix, AZ, 85006, USA.
authors.forename: Kewei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China. zhang_rzs@bnu.edu.cn.|BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People's Republic of China. zhang_rzs@bnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhanjun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Cognitive; Diffusion tensor MRI; Hypertension; Topological organization,White matter network