Ventricular volume and dementia progression in the Cardiovascular Health Study

Owen T. Carmichael, Lewis H. Kuller, Oscar L. Lopez, Paul M. Thompson, Rebecca A. Dutton, Allen Lu, Sharon E. Lee, Jessica Y. Lee, Howard J. Aizenstein, Carolyn Cidis Meltzer, Yanxi Liu, Arthur W. Toga, James T. Becker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

84 Scopus citations

Abstract

Elevated cerebral ventricular volume may be associated with dementia risk and progression. A fully-automated technique that agreed highly with radiological readings was used to estimate lateral ventricle volume on MR scans done at baseline in 1997-99 of 377 subjects in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) from the Pittsburgh Center. 327 subjects were normal or diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at baseline and were evaluated 4 years later. Baseline ventricular volume was analyzed in multivariate models with age, gender, education level, presence and incidence of cerebral infarcts, and dementia category (normal, MCI, or dementia) at baseline and follow-up as fixed effects. Ventricular volume at baseline was significantly higher among subjects normal at baseline and demented 4 years later. Age, gender, education level, and dementia progression were significant factors affecting ventricular volume. Ventricular volume was higher in dementia compared to MCI, higher in MCI compared to controls, and higher in Possible-Alzheimer's-disease (AD) dementia compared to Probable-AD. Larger ventricles in healthy subjects may indicate susceptibility to, or progression of, dementia-related pathology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)389-397
Number of pages9
JournalNeurobiology of Aging
Volume28
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2007

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Clinical Neurology
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Aging
  • Neuroscience(all)
  • Developmental Biology

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