ArticleEuropean journal of neurology2016
Do white matter hyperintensities mediate the association between brain iron deposition and cognitive abilities in older people?
Article in European journal of neurology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between deep gray matter iron deposition, white matter hyperintensity, and hypertensive cognitive impairment.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2025Article
- Brain iron deposition and cognitive decline in patients with cerebral small vessel disease : a quantitative susceptibility mapping study.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Article
- Healthy dietary intake diminishes the effect of cerebral small vessel disease on cognitive performance in older adults.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Deep gray matters iron deposition is positively associated with white matter hyperintensity in hypertension.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2023Article
- Iron deposition in the precuneus is correlated with mild cognitive impairment in patients with cerebral microbleeds: A quantitative susceptibility mapping study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Increase of blood-brain barrier leakage is related to cognitive decline in vascular mild cognitive impairment.BMC neurology · 2021Article
- White Matter Hyperintensity Volume and Location: Associations With WM Microstructure, Brain Iron, and Cerebral Perfusion.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2021Article
- Iron Deposition Characteristics of Deep Gray Matter in Elderly Individuals in the Community Revealed by Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping and Multiple Factor Analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2021Article
- Perivascular spaces in the centrum semiovale at the beginning of the 8th decade of life: effect on cognition and associations with mineral deposition.Brain imaging and behavior · 2020Article
- [Correlation of cardiovascular risk factors with brain iron deposition: A magnetic resonance imaging study].Zhejiang da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Zhejiang University. Medical sciences · 2019Article
- Cerebral small vessel disease: neuroimaging markers and clinical implication.Journal of neurology · 2019Review
- Multilevel Impacts of Iron in the Brain: The Cross Talk between Neurophysiological Mechanisms, Cognition, and Social Behavior.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Association between Striatal Brain Iron Deposition, Microbleeds and Cognition 1 Year After a Minor Ischaemic Stroke.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019Article
- Considerations on accuracy, pattern and possible underlying factors of brain microbleed progression in older adults with absence or mild presence of vascular pathology.The Journal of international medical research · 2018Article
- Compromised Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity Is Associated With Total Magnetic Resonance Imaging Burden of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.Frontiers in neurology · 2018Article
- Higher blood-brain barrier permeability is associated with higher white matter hyperintensities burden.Journal of neurology · 2017Article
- Cerebral microhemorrhages: mechanisms, consequences, and prevention.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2017Review
- Characterizing Brain Iron Deposition in Patients with Subcortical Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment Using Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping: A Potential Biomarker.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
background and purposeSeveral studies have reported associations between brain iron deposits (IDs), white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and cognitive ability in older individuals. Whether the association between brain IDs and cognitive abilities in older people is mediated by or independent of total brain tissue damage represented by WMHs visible on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was examined.
methodsData from 676 community-dwelling individuals from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, with Mini-Mental State Examination scores >24, who underwent detailed cognitive testing and multimodal brain MRI at mean age 72.7 years were analysed. Brain IDs were assessed automatically following manual editing. WMHs were assessed semi-automatically. Brain microbleeds were visually counted. Structural equation modelling was used to test for mediation.
resultsOverall, 72.8% of the sample had IDs with a median total volume of 0.040 ml (i.e. 0.004% of the total brain volume). The total volume of IDs, significantly and negatively associated with general cognitive function (standardized β = -0.17, P < 0.01), was significantly and positively associated with WMH volume (std β = 0.13, P = 0.03). WMH volume had a significant negative association with general cognitive function, independent of IDs (std β = -0.13, P < 0.01). The association between cognition and IDs in the brain stem (and minimally the total brain iron load) was partially and significantly mediated by WMH volume (P = 0.03).
conclusionsThe negative association between brain IDs and cognitive ability in the elderly is partially mediated by WMHs, with this mediation mainly arising from the iron deposition load in the brain stem. IDs might be an indicator of small vessel disease that predisposes to white matter damage, affecting the neuronal networks underlying higher cognitive functioning.
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