ArticleAlzheimer's research & therapy2020
White matter hyperintensities across the adult lifespan: relation to age, Aβ load, and cognition.
Article in Alzheimer's research & therapy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
86 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 119 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global ethnic disparities in cerebral small vessel disease imaging markers and vascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Pooled it
- Mediterranean diet and dementia: MRI marker evidence from meta-analysis.European journal of medical research · 2025Pooled it
- Imaging markers of cerebral small vessel disease are associated with Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Intranasal Insulin Reduces White Matter Hyperintensity Progression in Association with Improvements in Cognition and CSF Biomarker Profiles in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · on this mapTrial
- The Associations of cerebral blood flow and white matter hyperintensities with tau and amyloid-beta across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Article
- Norms for Automatic Estimation of White Matter Hyperintensities Burden: LST-AI Service in neuGRID.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Relationship between cerebral white matter hyperintensities and autonomic function in older individuals with cerebral small vessel disease.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2026Article
- MRI-Based Quantitative Assessment of Normal-Appearing White and Gray Matter Demyelination in Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Long COVID, and Normal Aging.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Periventricular gradient of normal-appearing white matter in normal aging and multiple neurological diseases.Journal of advanced research · 2026Article
- The Associations of Cerebral Blood Flow and White Matter Hyperintensities with Tau and Amyloid-beta Across the Alzheimer's Disease Spectrum.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Association of coronary artery calcium and carotid intima-media thickness with white matter hyperintensity.Medicine · 2026Article
- Evaluation of Image-Level Harmonization Methods for Multi-Center MR Neuroimaging.Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI · 2026Article
- The association between neurofilament light chain and cognitive function: a UK Biobank cohort study.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Cross-organ MRI to assess the relationship between cardiac traits and cerebral white matter hyperintensity volumes.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Prediction of cognitive test scores: a comparison of brain structure, health, demographic, and cognitive data across adulthood.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Probabilistic maps of white matter hyperintensity in a Chinese aging cohort and application for clinical diagnosis.European radiology · 2026Article
- Advancing clinical trial readiness in white matter disease and related dementias: key steps for future research progress.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Inflammation, Limbic White Matter Microstructure, and Clinical Symptoms in Retired American Football Players With Repetitive Head Impacts.Neurology · 2026Article
- Projected Cognitive and Brain Aging Benefits of Eliminating Cardiometabolic Risks in Non-Hispanic White and Black Males - HABS-HD.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Regional brain age is decreased in children with sickle cell anemia.Blood advances · 2026Article
26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhite matter hyperintensities (WMH) are very frequent in older adults and associated with worse cognitive performance. Little is known about the links between WMH and vascular risk factors, cortical β-amyloid (Aβ) load, and cognition in cognitively unimpaired adults across the entire lifespan, especially in young and middle-aged adults.
methodsOne hundred and thirty-seven cognitively unimpaired adults from the community were enrolled (IMAP cohort). Participants underwent (i) a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of episodic memory, processing speed, working memory, and executive functions; (ii) brain structural T1 and FLAIR MRI scans used for the automatic segmentation of total and regional (frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, and corpus callosum) WMH; and (iii) a Florbetapir-PET scan to measure cortical Aβ. The relationships of total and regional WMH to age, vascular risk factors, cortical Aβ, and cognition were assessed within the whole sample, but also splitting the sample in two age groups (≤ or > 60 years old).
resultsWMH increased with age across the adult lifespan, i.e., even in young and middle-aged adults. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and glycated hemoglobin were all associated with higher WMH before, but not after, adjusting for age and the other vascular risk factors. Higher frontal, temporal, and occipital WMH were associated with greater Aβ, but this association was no longer significant when adjusting for age and vascular risk factors. Higher total and frontal WMH were associated with worse performance in executive functions, with no interactive effect of the age group. In contrast, there was a significant interaction of the age group on the link between WMH and working memory, which was significant within the subgroup of young/middle-aged adults only. Adding cortical Aβ load in the models did not alter the results, and there was no interaction between WMH and Aβ on cognition.
conclusionWMH increased with age and were associated with worse executive functions across the adult lifespan and with worse working memory in young/middle-aged adults. Aβ load was weakly associated with WMH and did not change the relationship found between WMH and executive functions. This study argues for the clinical relevance of WMH across the adult lifespan, even in young and middle-aged adults with low WMH.
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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.