Associations of subclinical cerebral small vessel disease and processing speed in non-demented subjects: A 7-year study

Abstract

Markers of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) have previously been associated with age-related cognitive decline. Using longitudinal data of cognitively healthy, older adults (N = 216, mean age at baseline = 70.9 years), we investigated baseline status and change in white matter hyperintensities (WMH) (total, periventricular, deep), normal appearing white matter (NAWM), brain parenchyma volume (BPV) and processing speed over seven years as well as the impact of different covariates by applying latent growth curve (LGC) models. Generally, we revealed a complex pattern of associations between the different CSVD markers. More specifically, we observed that changes of deep WMH (dWMH), as compared to periventricular WMH (pWMH), were more strongly related to the changes of other CSVD markers and also to baseline processing speed performance. Further, the number of lacunes rather than their volume reflected the severity of CSVD. With respect to the studied covariates, we revealed that higher education had a protective effect on subsequent total WMH, pWMH, lacunar number, NAWM volume, and processing speed performance. The indication of antihypertensive drugs was associated with lower lacunar number and volume at baseline and the indication of antihypercholesterolemic drugs came along with higher processing speed performance at baseline. In summary, our results confirm previous findings, and extend them by providing information on true within-person changes, relationships between the different CSVD markers and brain-behavior associations. The moderate to strong associations between changes of the different CSVD markers indicate a common pathological relationship and, thus, support multidimensional treatment strategies.

Keywords: Brain volumes; Cerebral small vessel disease; Lacunes; Longitudinal analysis; Processing speed; White matter hyperintensities.