Role of White Matter Abnormalities in the Relationship Between Microbleed Burden and Cognitive Impairment in Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy

Sungyang Jo, E. Nae Cheong, Nayoung Kim, Jungsu S. Oh, Woo Hyun Shim, Hyung Ji Kim, Sun Ju Lee, Yoojin Lee, Minyoung Oh, Jae Seung Kim, Bum Joon Kim, Jee Hoon Roh, Sang Joon Kim, Jae Hong Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) often presents as cognitive impairment, but the mechanism of cognitive decline is unclear. Recent studies showed that number of microbleeds were associated with cognitive decline. Objective: We aimed to investigate how microbleeds contribute to cognitive impairment in association with white matter tract abnormalities or cortical thickness in CAA. Methods: This retrospective comparative study involved patients with probable CAA according to the Boston criteria (Aβ+ CAA) and patients with Alzheimer's disease (Aβ+ AD), all of whom showed severe amyloid deposition on amyloid PET. Using mediation analysis, we investigated how FA or cortical thickness mediates the correlation between the number of lobar microbleeds and cognition. Results: We analyzed 30 patients with Aβ+ CAA (age 72.2±7.6, female 53.3%) and 30 patients with Aβ+ AD (age 71.5±7.6, female 53.3%). The two groups showed similar degrees of cortical amyloid deposition in AD-related regions. The Aβ+ CAA group had significantly lower FA values in the clusters of the posterior area than did the Aβ+ AD group (family-wise error-corrected p < 0.05). The correlation between the number of lobar microbleeds and visuospatial function was indirectly mediated by white matter tract abnormality of right posterior thalamic radiation (PTR) and tapetum, while lobar microbleeds and language function was indirectly mediated by the abnormality of left PTR and sagittal stratum. Cortical thickness did not mediate the association between lobar microbleeds and cognition. Conclusion: This result supports the hypothesis that microbleeds burden leads to white matter tract damage and subsequent cognitive decline in CAA.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)667-678
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Alzheimer's Disease
Volume86
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 - IOS Press. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Amyloid PET
  • cerebral amyloid angiopathy
  • cognition
  • microbleeds

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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