ArticleNeurology2019
Cerebral white matter free water: A sensitive biomarker of cognition and function.
Article in Neurology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers.
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Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of aerobic exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness on white matter free water fraction in older adults: a 1-year randomized controlled trial.GeroScience · 2026Trial
- Exploring the effect of multi-modal intervention against cognitive decline on atrophy and small vessel disease imaging markers in the AgeWell.de imaging study.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2025Trial
- Free water: A marker of age-related modifications of the cingulum white matter and its association with cognitive decline.PloS one · 2020Trial
- Article
- The role of vascular risk factors in white matter tract microstructure: a multi-cohort study in older adults.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Regional juxtacortical microstructural changes and gene expression provide insights into neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Operationalizing diffusion magnetic resonance imaging positivity for detection of vascular contributions to impairment and dementia.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Free Water Elevation in Alzheimer's Disease: Influence of Amyloid-Beta Deposition Beyond Brain Cell Loss.Journal of Korean medical science · 2026Article
- Free water changes and their correlations with multimodal biomarkers in frontotemporal dementia.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Association of glymphatic dysfunction, free water, white matter integrity and long-term memory performance in aging autistic adults.Molecular autism · 2026Article
- Reproducibility and Reliability of Free-Water-Corrected Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Brain: Revisited.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Associations of cardiorespiratory fitness with brain white matter microstructural integrity and white matter hyperintensity volume across the adult lifespan.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: Clinical Features, Neuropathology, and Biomarkers.Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2026Review
- Multimodal MRI insights into glymphatic clearance and blood-brain barrier integrity in healthy aging.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Evaluating regional and global diffusion measures as biomarkers for vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia.Cerebral circulation - cognition and behavior · 2026Article
- Assessing cognitive impairment in OSAHS patients through NODDI-based gray matter analysis.BMC neurology · 2025Article
- Glymphatic dysfunction as an imaging biomarker for cognitive impairment in patients with β-thalassemia major: A multimodal MRI study.European journal of radiology open · 2025Article
- MRI Evaluation of Glymphatic Dysfunction in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: Hypertensive vs. Normotensive Patients.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Article
- Association of MRI-Visible Perivascular Spaces with Early White Matter Injury.AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology · 2025Article
- MRI markers of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics predict dementia and mediate the impact of cardiovascular risk.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine whether free water (FW) content, initially developed to correct metrics derived from diffusion tensor imaging and recently found to be strongly associated with vascular risk factors, may constitute a sensitive biomarker of white matter (WM) microstructural differences associated with cognitive performance but remains unknown.
methodsFive hundred thirty-six cognitively diverse individuals, aged 77 ± 8 years, received yearly comprehensive clinical evaluations and a baseline MRI examination of whom 224 underwent follow-up MRI. WM microstructural measures, including FW, fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity corrected for FW and WM hyperintensity burden were computed within WM voxels of each individual. Baseline and change in MRI metrics were then used as independent variables to explain baseline and change in episodic memory (EM), executive function (EF), and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores using linear, logistic, and Cox proportional-hazards regressions.
resultsHigher baseline FW and WM hyperintensity were associated with lower baseline EM and EF, higher baseline CDR, accelerated EF and EM decline, and higher probability to transition to a more severe CDR stage (
conclusionsThis study finds cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between FW content and trajectory of cognitive and functional performance in a large sample of cognitively diverse individuals. It supports the need to investigate the pathophysiologic process that manifests increased FW, potentially leading to more severe WM territory injury and promoting cognitive and functional decline.
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