Effect of hypertension duration on white matter structure and its link with cognition
Zilin Li, Beijing Normal University, China
Session:
Posters 2B Poster
Presentation Time:
Fri, 25 Aug, 13:00 - 15:00 United Kingdom Time
Abstract:
Hypertension (HTN) and cognitive impairment are prevalent public health issues as population ages. Current study aims to investigate the cumulative effect of HTN duration on white matter (WM) structure and its relation to cognition in older individuals with HTN. A total of 1218 participants aged ≥ 55 years from the Beijing Aging Brain Rejuvenation Initiative (BABRI) were recruited. We found that greater duration of HTN was preferentially related to worse executive function (EF) and processing speed (PS), higher WM hyperintensities (WMH), and greater reduction in WM integrity, which spreads from long-range association fibers including the inferior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior frontooccipital fasciculus to the whole brain. The increasing alterations in WMH and WM integrity of specific tracts were consistently related to EF ability. Moreover, we found that free water (FW) imaging method greatly enhanced the sensitivity in detecting HTN-related WM changes than traditional diffusion tensor imaging model.