Shahrzad Kharabian | Impact of cardiovascular risk factors on brain structure in older adults
Institutskolloquium (intern)
- Datum: 20.06.2016
- Uhrzeit: 16:00 - 17:00
- Ort: Max-Planck-Institut für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften
- Raum: Hörsaal
- Gastgeber: Abteilung Neurologie
Cognitive aging trajectories differ between individuals. Cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes, as well as physical and mental inactivity have been shown to impact cognition, specifically in later life. Alterations in brain structure due to these factors might be one important pathway through which cognitive aging trajectories are modulated. Yet reports on extent and strength of the risk-factor-associated structural alterations and their cognitive squealae are mixed. Therefore, using a large cohort of 617 community-dwelled older individuals (258 women, 60-80 years), from the ”Health Study of the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases” (LIFE), we aimed to systematically identify independent effects of important cardiovascular risk factors on gray matter structure and their impact on cognition.
In the first part of this talk the focus will be on obesity, as a major epidemic of the twentieth century. Using traditional voxel-wise associations, we demonstrate widespread cortical and subcortical gray matter volume reductions in relation to higher body mass index (BMI). Furthermore, subsequent mediation analysis provided evidence on functional relevance of these BMI-associated changes.
In the second part of the talk, we extend our analysis to further risk factors and a network-based analysis of gray matter structure, looking beyond voxel-wise associations. Here brain structural information, derived from three complementary types of gray matter image processing (voxel-wise gray matter volume and vertex-wise cortical thickness and surface area measures), are combined in the framework of linked independent component analysis.
We demonstrate associations between smoking, (central) obesity and glucose metabolism with alterations within global gray matter networks that are prone to undergo age-associated changes. We further discuss how the spatial extent of these networks could help to understand mechanisms by which these cardiovascular risk factors contribute to gray matter aging and related cognitive decline.
In the first part of this talk the focus will be on obesity, as a major epidemic of the twentieth century. Using traditional voxel-wise associations, we demonstrate widespread cortical and subcortical gray matter volume reductions in relation to higher body mass index (BMI). Furthermore, subsequent mediation analysis provided evidence on functional relevance of these BMI-associated changes.
In the second part of the talk, we extend our analysis to further risk factors and a network-based analysis of gray matter structure, looking beyond voxel-wise associations. Here brain structural information, derived from three complementary types of gray matter image processing (voxel-wise gray matter volume and vertex-wise cortical thickness and surface area measures), are combined in the framework of linked independent component analysis.
We demonstrate associations between smoking, (central) obesity and glucose metabolism with alterations within global gray matter networks that are prone to undergo age-associated changes. We further discuss how the spatial extent of these networks could help to understand mechanisms by which these cardiovascular risk factors contribute to gray matter aging and related cognitive decline.