Association between striatal brain iron deposition, microbleeds and cognition 1 year after a minor ischaemic stroke

Valdés Hernández, M. d. C., Case, T., Chappell, F. M., Glatz, A., Makin, S., Doubal, F. and Wardlaw, J. M. (2019) Association between striatal brain iron deposition, microbleeds and cognition 1 year after a minor ischaemic stroke. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(6), 1293. (doi: 10.3390/ijms20061293) (PMID:30875807) (PMCID:PMC6470500)

Abstract

Brain iron deposits (IDs) are inversely associated with cognitive function in community-dwelling older people, but their association with cognition after ischemic stroke, and whether that differs from microbleeds, is unknown. We quantified basal ganglia IDs (BGID) and microbleeds (BMBs) semi-automatically on brain magnetic resonance images from patients with minor stroke (NIHSS 7), at presentation and 12 months after stroke. We administered the National Adult Reading Test (NART, estimates premorbid or peak adult cognition) and the Revised Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE-R; current cognition) at 1 and 12 months after stroke. We adjusted analyses for baseline cognition, age, gender, white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume and vascular risk factors. In 200 patients, mean age 65 years, striatal IDs and BMBs volumes did not change over the 12 months. Baseline BGID volumes correlated positively with NART scores at both times (ρ = 0.19, p 0.01). Baseline and follow-up BGID volumes correlated positively with age (ρ = 0.248, p 0.001 and ρ = 0.271, p 0.001 respectively), but only baseline (and not follow-up) BMB volume correlated with age (ρ = 0.129, p 0.05). Both smoking and baseline WMH burden predicted verbal fluency and visuospatial abilities scores (B = −1.13, p 0.02 and B = −0.22, p = 0.001 respectively) at 12 months after stroke. BGIDs and BMBs are associated differently with cognition post-stroke; studies of imaging and post-stroke cognition should adjust for premorbid cognition. The positive correlation of BGID with NART may reflect the lower premorbid cognition in patients with stroke at younger vs older ages.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Iron deposits, MRI, ageing, cognition, brain microbleeds, white matter hyperintensities.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Makin, Dr Stephen

Creator Roles

Makin, S.: Resources, Data curation, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Valdés Hernández, M. d. C., Case, T., Chappell, F. M., Glatz, A., Makin, S., Doubal, F., and Wardlaw, J. M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health
• Journal Name: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1661-6596
• ISSN (Online): 1422-0067
• Published Online: 14 March 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Authors
• First Published: First published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences 20(6): 1293
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License