脑白质高信号负荷与脑老化加速有关。
White matter hyperintensity load is associated with premature brain aging.
机构信息
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29201, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29201, USA.
出版信息
Aging (Albany NY). 2022 Nov 30;14(23):9458-9465. doi: 10.18632/aging.204397.
BACKGROUND
Brain age is an MRI-derived estimate of brain tissue loss that has a similar pattern to aging-related atrophy. White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are neuroimaging markers of small vessel disease and may represent subtle signs of brain compromise. We tested the hypothesis that WMHs are independently associated with premature brain age in an original aging cohort.
METHODS
Brain age was calculated using machine-learning on whole-brain tissue estimates from T1-weighted images using the BrainAgeR analysis pipeline in 166 healthy adult participants. WMHs were manually delineated on FLAIR images. WMH load was defined as the cumulative volume of WMHs. A positive difference between estimated brain age and chronological age (BrainGAP) was used as a measure of premature brain aging. Then, partial Pearson correlations between BrainGAP and volume of WMHs were calculated (accounting for chronological age).
RESULTS
Brain and chronological age were strongly correlated ((163)=0.932, <0.001). There was significant negative correlation between BrainGAP scores and chronological age ((163)=-0.244, <0.001) indicating that younger participants had higher BrainGAP (premature brain aging). Chronological age also showed a positive correlation with WMH load ((163)=0.506, <0.001) indicating older participants had increased WMH load. Controlling for chronological age, there was a statistically significant relationship between premature brain aging and WMHs load ((163)=0.216, =0.003). Each additional year in brain age beyond chronological age corresponded to an additional 1.1mm in WMH load.
CONCLUSIONS
WMHs are an independent factor associated with premature brain aging. This finding underscores the impact of white matter disease on global brain integrity and progressive age-like brain atrophy.
背景
脑龄是一种基于 MRI 的脑组织丢失估计值，其模式与与年龄相关的萎缩相似。脑白质高信号（WMH）是小血管疾病的神经影像学标志物，可能代表大脑受损的微妙迹象。我们在一个原始的衰老队列中测试了这样一个假设，即 WMH 与大脑年龄提前独立相关。
方法
使用 BrainAgeR 分析管道，基于 T1 加权图像中的全脑组织估计值，通过机器学习计算 166 名健康成年参与者的脑龄。在 FLAIR 图像上手动勾画 WMH。WMH 负荷定义为 WMH 的累积体积。脑龄与实际年龄的正差值（BrainGAP）被用作大脑提前衰老的衡量标准。然后，计算了 BrainGAP 与 WMH 体积之间的部分 Pearson 相关系数（考虑到实际年龄）。
结果
脑龄与实际年龄高度相关（r（163）=0.932，<0.001）。BrainGAP 评分与实际年龄呈显著负相关（r（163）=-0.244，<0.001），表明年龄较小的参与者的 BrainGAP 较高（大脑提前衰老）。实际年龄与 WMH 负荷呈正相关（r（163）=0.506，<0.001），表明年龄较大的参与者的 WMH 负荷增加。控制实际年龄后，大脑提前衰老与 WMH 负荷之间存在统计学上的显著关系（r（163）=0.216，=0.003）。脑龄比实际年龄每增加 1 年，WMH 负荷就会增加 1.1mm。
结论
WMH 是与大脑年龄提前相关的独立因素。这一发现强调了白质疾病对大脑整体完整性和进行性类似年龄的脑萎缩的影响。
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