Lobar Cerebral Microbleeds Are Associated With Cognitive Decline in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Pengfei Shao; Hengheng Xu; Xiaoning Sheng; Ruomeng Qin; Junyi Ma; Yishan Luo; Allan Lee; Lin Shi; Lili Huang; Yue Cheng; Hui Zhao; Yun Xu

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.843260

Lobar Cerebral Microbleeds Are Associated With Cognitive Decline in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Front Neurol. 2022 Mar 25:13:843260. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.843260. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Pengfei Shao^{1

2

3}, Hengheng Xu^{1

2

3}, Xiaoning Sheng^{1

2

3}, Ruomeng Qin^{1

2

3}, Junyi Ma^{1

2

3}, Yishan Luo⁴, Allan Lee⁴, Lin Shi^{4

5}, Lili Huang^{1

2

3}, Yue Cheng¹, Hui Zhao^{1

2

3}, Yun Xu^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China.
² Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China.
³ Jiangsu Province Stroke Center for Diagnosis and Therapy, Nanjing, China.
⁴ BrainNow Research Institute, Shenzhen, China.
⁵ Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Purpose: Combined the number, volume, and location of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs), this study aimed to explore the different features of CMBs and their correlation with cognitive ability in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: This study recruited 95 patients with T2DM and 80 healthy control (HC) individuals. AccuBrain^®, an automated tool, was used to obtain the number and volume of CMBs. The scores on global cognition and five cognitive domains were derived from a battery of cognitive tests. The logistic regression and multivariate linear regression were conducted to determine the relationship between the CMBs (number, volume, and location) and cognitive ability in patients with T2DM.

Results: After adjusting for several variables, the total volume of CMBs (OR = 0.332, 95%CI: 0.133-0.825, and p = 0.018) was independent risk factor for cognitive impairment, whereas the total number of CMBs was not (OR = 0933, 95%CI: 0.794-1.097, and p = 0.400). Furthermore, the volume of CMBs in lobar regions was independently associated with working memory (β = -0.239, 95%CI: -0.565 to -0.035, and p = 0.027). However, no significant correlation between the number of CMBs (both lobar and deep/infratentorium) and any cognitive domains was observed.

Conclusions: Lobar CMBs was related with cognitive impairment in patients with T2DM and might be a potential early warning signal. Compared with the counting analysis, the quantitative method offered a more sensitive and objective measurement for studying imaging features of CMBs.

Keywords: MRI; cerebral microbleeds (CMBs); cognitive impairment; quantitative method; type 2 diabetes mellitus.