Insidious Attentional Deficits in Patients With Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Revealed by Attention Network Test

Yunliang Guo; Shuo Zhao; Xunyao Hou; Shanjing Nie; Song Xu; Yan Hong; Yali Chen; Shougang Guo; Xueping Liu; Zhangyong Xia

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.865307

Insidious Attentional Deficits in Patients With Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Revealed by Attention Network Test

Front Neurol. 2022 Jun 20:13:865307. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.865307. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yunliang Guo^{1

2

3

4

5}, Shuo Zhao⁶, Xunyao Hou^{1

4

5}, Shanjing Nie^{1

4

5}, Song Xu^{1

4

5}, Yan Hong^{1

4

5}, Yali Chen⁷, Shougang Guo^{7

8}, Xueping Liu^{1

4

5}, Zhangyong Xia^{2

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Geriatric Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China.
² Department of Neurology, Liaocheng People's Hospital and Liaocheng Clinical School of Shandong First Medical University, Liaocheng, China.
³ Department of Geriatric Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
⁴ Department of Geriatrics, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China.
⁵ Anti-Aging Monitoring Laboratory, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China.
⁶ Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China.
⁷ Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China.
⁸ Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
⁹ Department of Neurology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.

Abstract

Background: Several reports have indicated potential cognitive decline for cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), especially in attention domain, whereas the attentional function at network level is still elusive. In this study, we used the attention network test (ANT) paradigm to characterize the efficiency of the alerting, orienting, and executive control networks in patients with CSVD and explore possible correlations between attention network efficiencies and obtained CSVD total score.

Methods: A total of 31 patients with CSVD and 30 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and education level were recruited. After neuropsychological and anxiety/depression/somatization assessments, an original version of ANT containing different cue conditions and target stimuli was used to investigate independent attentional components, and then, behavioral performance (accuracy and reaction time) and network efficacy were recorded and analyzed.

Results: Assessed by traditional neuropsychological scale (MoCA), we did not find difference between groups on general cognition. Nevertheless, the overall reaction time to targets of ANT was markedly prolonged in patients with CSVD, and similar phenomenon was observed for overall accuracy on ANT. Moreover, patients showed significantly lower orienting and executive control network efficiencies compared with controls, while not for alerting network. These impairments were correlated with total CSVD burdens, but not with anxiety, depression, or somatization.

Conclusions: Although general and almost all individual cognitive function evaluated by MoCA seemed to remain intact, the orienting and executive control function was impaired in individuals with CSVD, which was modulated by lesion grades. Our observations implied insidious attentional deficits regarding CSVD. Given this, considering its simplicity and sensitivity, ANT could serve as an attractive tool for early diagnosis of cognitive dysfunction. Further investigations on the availability of ANT detection for CSVD are warranted.

Keywords: alerting; attention; attention network test; cerebral small vessel disease; executive control; orienting; total CSVD score.