TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex and Cardiovascular Function in Relation to Vascular Brain Injury in Patients with Cognitive Complaints
AU - Kuipers, Sanne
AU - Biessels, Geert Jan
AU - Greving, Jacoba P
AU - Amier, Raquel P
AU - de Bresser, Jeroen
AU - Bron, Esther E
AU - van der Flier, Wiesje M
AU - van der Geest, Rob J
AU - Hooghiemstra, Astrid M
AU - van Oostenbrugge, Robert J
AU - van Osch, Matthias J P
AU - Kappelle, L Jaap
AU - Exalto, Lieza G
N1 - Funding Information:
L.G. Exalto is supported by Alzheimer Nederland WE.03-2019-15. J. de Bresser is supported by Alzheimer Nederland WE.03-2019-08. E.E. Bron is supported by Dutch Heart Foundation (PPP Allowance, 2018B011) Authors’ disclosures available online (https:// www.j-alz.com/manuscript-disclosures/21-0360r2).
Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of researchers and participants of the HBC (Heart-Brain Connection) Consortium. The HBC (Heart-Brain Connection) Consortium is supported by the Netherlands CardioVascular Research Initiative: the Dutch Heart Foundation (CVON 2018-28 & 2012-06 Heart Brain Connection), Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 - IOS Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/10/26
Y1 - 2021/10/26
N2 - BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence shows sex differences in manifestations of vascular brain injury in memory clinic patients. We hypothesize that this is explained by sex differences in cardiovascular function.OBJECTIVE: To assess the relation between sex and manifestations of vascular brain injury in patients with cognitive complaints, in interaction with cardiovascular function.METHODS: 160 outpatient clinic patients (68.8±8.5 years, 38% female) with cognitive complaints and vascular brain injury from the Heart-Brain Connection study underwent a standardized work-up, including heart-brain MRI. We calculated sex differences in vascular brain injury (lacunar infarcts, non-lacunar infarcts, white matter hyperintensities [WMHs], and microbleeds) and cardiovascular function (arterial stiffness, cardiac index, left ventricular [LV] mass index, LV mass-to-volume ratio and cerebral blood flow). In separate regression models, we analyzed the interaction effect between sex and cardiovascular function markers on manifestations of vascular brain injury with interaction terms (sex*cardiovascular function marker).RESULTS: Males had more infarcts, whereas females tended to have larger WMH-volumes. Males had higher LV mass indexes and LV mass-to-volume ratios and lower CBF values compared to females. Yet, we found no interaction effect between sex and individual cardiovascular function markers in relation to the different manifestations of vascular brain injury (p-values interaction terms > 0.05).CONCLUSION: Manifestations of vascular brain injury in patients with cognitive complaints differed by sex. There was no interaction between sex and cardiovascular function, warranting further studies to explain the observed sex differences in injury patterns.
AB - BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence shows sex differences in manifestations of vascular brain injury in memory clinic patients. We hypothesize that this is explained by sex differences in cardiovascular function.OBJECTIVE: To assess the relation between sex and manifestations of vascular brain injury in patients with cognitive complaints, in interaction with cardiovascular function.METHODS: 160 outpatient clinic patients (68.8±8.5 years, 38% female) with cognitive complaints and vascular brain injury from the Heart-Brain Connection study underwent a standardized work-up, including heart-brain MRI. We calculated sex differences in vascular brain injury (lacunar infarcts, non-lacunar infarcts, white matter hyperintensities [WMHs], and microbleeds) and cardiovascular function (arterial stiffness, cardiac index, left ventricular [LV] mass index, LV mass-to-volume ratio and cerebral blood flow). In separate regression models, we analyzed the interaction effect between sex and cardiovascular function markers on manifestations of vascular brain injury with interaction terms (sex*cardiovascular function marker).RESULTS: Males had more infarcts, whereas females tended to have larger WMH-volumes. Males had higher LV mass indexes and LV mass-to-volume ratios and lower CBF values compared to females. Yet, we found no interaction effect between sex and individual cardiovascular function markers in relation to the different manifestations of vascular brain injury (p-values interaction terms > 0.05).CONCLUSION: Manifestations of vascular brain injury in patients with cognitive complaints differed by sex. There was no interaction between sex and cardiovascular function, warranting further studies to explain the observed sex differences in injury patterns.
KW - Cardiovascular function
KW - cerebrovascular disorders
KW - cognitive dysfunction
KW - female
KW - male
KW - sex
KW - vascular brain injury
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118945320&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3233/JAD-210360
DO - 10.3233/JAD-210360
M3 - Article
C2 - 34511498
SN - 1387-2877
VL - 84
SP - 261
EP - 271
JO - Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
JF - Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
IS - 1
ER -