Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Division of Radiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2010 Feb;22(1):14-25. doi: 10.1017/S1041610209991396. Epub 2009 Dec 4.
Brain atrophy in Alzheimer's disease (AD) includes not only AD-specific brain atrophy but also the atrophy induced by normal aging. Atrophy of the hippocampus has been one diagnostic marker of AD, but it was also found to emerge in healthy adults, along with increasing age. It was reported that the important age when age-related shrinkage of the hippocampus starts was around the mid-40s. The aim is to study the aging atrophy speed and acceleration of brain atrophy in a cross-sectional database, to identify the age at which acceleration of hippocampal atrophy starts in non-demented elderly persons.
544 subjects (aged 60-97 years; 318 female and 226 male) were recruited into the MRI study by using a subsample of an epidemiological sample of 3363 healthy non-demented elderly people (over 60 years of age). Hippocampus and ventricle sizes were measured.
The normalized volumes (by intracranial volume, ICV) of the hippocampus in males were smaller than those in females. The right hippocampus was larger than the left. The expansion of the lateral ventricles (2.80% per year in males, 2.95% in females) and third ventricle (1.58% and 2.28%, respectively) was more marked than the hippocampal shrinkage (0.68% and 0.79%, respectively). The suggested age at which acceleration of hippocampal atrophy starts is 72 years.
Males present smaller hippocampus volumes (normalized by ICV) than females; however, females are more vulnerable to hippocampal atrophy in a non-demented elderly population. An acceleration of hippocampal atrophy may emerge and start around 72 years of age in a non-demented elderly population.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）的脑萎缩不仅包括 AD 特异性脑萎缩，还包括正常衰老引起的脑萎缩。海马体萎缩一直是 AD 的一个诊断标志物，但也发现在健康成年人中，随着年龄的增长而出现。据报道，海马体与年龄相关的萎缩开始的重要年龄在 40 多岁左右。本研究旨在通过横断面数据库研究大脑萎缩的老化速度和加速，以确定非痴呆老年人中海马体萎缩加速开始的年龄。
通过对 3363 名健康非痴呆老年人（60 岁以上）的流行病学样本的子样本，招募了 544 名受试者（年龄 60-97 岁；318 名女性，226 名男性）进行 MRI 研究。测量了海马体和脑室的大小。
男性的海马体标准化体积（按颅内体积[ICV]计算）小于女性。右侧海马体大于左侧。侧脑室（男性每年扩张 2.80%，女性每年扩张 2.95%）和第三脑室（分别为 1.58%和 2.28%）的扩张比海马体的萎缩（分别为 0.68%和 0.79%）更为明显。提示海马体萎缩加速开始的年龄为 72 岁。
男性的海马体体积（按 ICV 标准化）小于女性；然而，在非痴呆老年人群中，女性更容易出现海马体萎缩。在非痴呆老年人群中，海马体萎缩可能会加速，大约在 72 岁左右开始。
