ArticleBMC geriatrics2009
Maximum (prior) brain size, not atrophy, correlates with cognition in community-dwelling older people: a cross-sectional neuroimaging study.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Preoperative thalamus volume is not associated with preoperative cognitive impairment (preCI) or postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD).Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Self-efficacy is independently associated with brain volume in older women.Age and ageing · 2012Trial
- The Usefulness of Falls Efficacy Scale-International in Predicting Falls in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Of differing methods, disputed estimates and discordant interpretations: the meta-analytical multiverse of brain volume and IQ associations.Royal Society open science · 2022Article
- Are Brain and Cognitive Reserve Shaped by Early Life Circumstances?Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Review
- Basal forebrain cholinergic system volume is associated with general cognitive ability in the elderly.Neuropsychologia · 2018Article
- Estimated maximal and current brain volume predict cognitive ability in old age.Neurobiology of aging · 2013Article
- Alzheimer's disease susceptibility genes APOE and TOMM40, and hippocampal volumes in the Lothian birth cohort 1936.PloS one · 2013Article
- Maximal brain size remains an important predictor of cognition in old age, independent of current brain pathology.Neurobiology of aging · 2012Article
- Quantifying the effects of normal ageing on white matter structure using unsupervised tract shape modelling.NeuroImage · 2010Article
- The impact of genetic research on our understanding of normal cognitive ageing: 1995 to 2009.Neuropsychology review · 2009Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBrain size is associated with cognitive ability in adulthood (correlation approximately .3), but few studies have investigated the relationship in normal ageing, particularly beyond age 75 years. With age both brain size and fluid-type intelligence decline, and regional atrophy is often suggested as causing decline in specific cognitive abilities. However, an association between brain size and intelligence may be due to the persistence of this relationship from earlier life.
methodsWe recruited 107 community-dwelling volunteers (29% male) aged 75-81 years for cognitive testing and neuroimaging. We used principal components analysis to derived a 'general cognitive factor' (g) from tests of fluid-type ability. Using semi-automated analysis, we measured whole brain volume, intracranial area (ICA) (an estimate of maximal brain volume), and volume of frontal and temporal lobes, amygdalo-hippocampal complex, and ventricles. Brain atrophy was estimated by correcting WBV for ICA.
resultsWhole brain volume (WBV) correlated with general cognitive ability (g) (r = .21, P < .05). Statistically significant associations between brain areas and specific cognitive abilities became non-significant when corrected for maximal brain volume (estimated using ICA), i.e. there were no statistically significant associations between atrophy and cognitive ability. The association between WBV and g was largely attenuated (from .21 to .03: i.e. attenuating the variance by 98%) by correcting for ICA. ICA accounted for 6.2% of the variance in g in old age, whereas atrophy accounted for < 1%.
conclusionThe association between brain regions and specific cognitive abilities in community dwelling people of older age is due to the life-long association between whole brain size and general cognitive ability, rather than atrophy of specific regions. Researchers and clinicians should therefore be cautious of interpreting global or regional brain atrophy on neuroimaging as contributing to cognitive status in older age without taking into account prior mental ability and brain size.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.