title: Early life characteristics and late life burden of cerebral small vessel disease in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936.
abstract: It is unknown whether relations between early-life factors and overall health in later life apply to burden of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD), a major cause of stroke and dementia. We explored relations between early-life factors and cSVD in the Lothian Birth Cohort, a healthy aging cohort. Participants were recruited at age 70 (N = 1091); most had completed a test of cognitive ability at age 11 as part of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947. Of those, 700 participants had brain MRI that could be rated for cSVD conducted at age 73. Presence of lacunes, white matter hyperintensities, microbleeds, and perivascular spaces were summed in a score of 0-4 representing all MRI cSVD features. We tested associations with early-life factors using multivariate logistic regression. Greater SVD score was significantly associated with lower age-11 IQ (OR higher SVD score per SD age-11 IQ = .78, 95%CI 0.65-.95, p=.01). The associations between SVD score and own job class (OR higher job class, .64 95%CI .43-.95, p=.03), age-11 deprivation index (OR per point deprivation score, 1.08, 95%CI 1.00-1.17, p=.04), and education (OR some qualifying education, .60 95%CI .37-.98, p=.04) trended towards significance (p<.05 for all) but did not meet thresholds for multiple testing. No early-life factor was significantly associated with any one individual score component. Early-life factors may contribute to age-73 burden of cSVD. These relations, and the potential for early social interventions to improve brain health, deserve further study.
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia, S169-2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver BC, V6T 2B5, Canada.
authors.forename: Thalia S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Field
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Neurosciences, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Fergus N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Doubal
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Backhouse
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McHutchison
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Janie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Corley
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pattie
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Gow
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Medicine Unit, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shenkin
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cvoro
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Zoe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC), Maastricht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Staals
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bastin
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Ian J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Deary
authors.affiliation: Brain Research imaging Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Joanna M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wardlaw
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D059345:Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D012606:Scotland; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
keywords: MRI; aging; cerebral small vessel disease; risk factors; stroke