Cerebral white matter disease and functional decline in older adults from the Northern Manhattan Study: A longitudinal cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on MRI are common and associated with vascular and functional outcomes. However, the relationship between WMHs and longitudinal trajectories of functional status is not well characterized. We hypothesized that whole brain WMHs are associated with functional decline independently of intervening clinical vascular events and other vascular risk factors.

Methods and findings

In the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), a population-based racially/ethnically diverse prospective cohort study, 1,290 stroke-free individuals underwent brain MRI and were followed afterwards for a mean 7.3 years with annual functional assessments using the Barthel index (BI) (range 0-100) and vascular event surveillance. Whole brain white matter hype

SUBMITTER: Dhamoon MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5860694 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature