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A multi‐country, multi‐cohort examination of cortical volume, thickness, and surface area in the motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome
Author(s) -
Blumen Helena M,
Schwartz Emily,
Allali Gilles,
Beauchet Olivier,
Callisaya Michele L,
Doi Takehiko,
Shimada Hiroyuki,
Srikanth Velandai K,
Verghese Joe
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.039445
Subject(s) - cohort , hyperintensity , medicine , dementia , cognition , neuroimaging , magnetic resonance imaging , gait , physical medicine and rehabilitation , radiology , disease , psychiatry
Background The motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome is characterized by slow gait and cognitive complaint, and increases the risk for both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Our recently established MCR neuroimaging consortium aims to identify the brain substrates and pathologies in MCR – and consists of > 3,000 MRIs from 6 different older adult cohorts and 5 different countries. The current study examined cortical volume, thickness, and surface area in MCR using a subset of 200 older adults from 4 different cohorts/countries, as a function of image processing methods that involved manual intervention and no manual intervention. Method Fifty MRIs from each of the four cohorts were examined (N = 200). FreeSurfer Version 6.0 and general linear statistical models with 1,000 bootstrapped samples (n‐1, with resampling) were used to determine if cortical volume (mm 3 ), thickness (mm) and surface area (mm 2 ) overall and in 34 different cortical regions were associated with MCR – following no manual intervention and manual error correction in the cortical surface. All models were adjusted for age, sex, education, white matter hyperintensities, total intracranial volume, and cohort status. Result The mean age was 72.62 years and 33 % met criteria for MCR. Overall cortical thickness – but not cortical volume or surface area – was different in older adults with MCR relative to those without MCR, although a trend in the expected direction was observed in cortical volume ( p <.051). Smaller cortical thickness in MCR was pervasive, and included prefrontal (caudal middle frontal, medial orbitofrontal, pars orbitalis, pars opercularis, pars triangularis), insular, cingulate (posterior, isthmus), parietal (inferior parietal, precuneus), temporal (superior temporal, supramarginal) and precentral regions. The relationship between cortical volume, cortical thickness, surface area and MCR did not change following manual interventions (all 95% CIs overlapped). Conclusion These results suggest that a) cortical thinning in MCR is pervasive and involve regions associated with a number of social, cognitive, affective and motor functions, b) cortical thickness is more sensitive than cortical volume and surface area to the cortical changes observed in MCR, and c) that manual intervention does not influence the relationship between cortical volume, thickness, area and MCR.