Brain white matter tract integrity and cognitive abilities in community-dwelling older people: the Lothian Birth Cohort, 1936.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The present study investigates associations between brain white matter tract integrity and cognitive abilities in community-dwelling older people (N = 655). We explored two potential confounds of white matter tract-cognition associations in later life: (a) whether the associations between tracts and specific cognitive abilities are accounted for by general cognitive ability (g); and (b) how the presence of atrophy and white matter lesions affect these associations.

Method

Tract integrity was determined using quantitative diffusion magnetic resonance imaging tractography (tract-averaged fractional anisotropy [FA]). Using confirmatory factor analysis, we compared first-order and bifactor models to investigate whether specific tract-ability associations were accounted

SUBMITTER: Booth T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3780714 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature