Vascular and amyloid pathologies are independent predictors of cognitive decline in normal elderly.

Our primary objective was to investigate a biomarker driven model for the interrelationships between vascular disease pathology, amyloid pathology, and longitudinal cognitive decline in cognitively normal elderly subjects between 70 and 90 years of age. Our secondary objective was to investigate the beneficial effect of cognitive reserve on these interrelationships. We used brain amyloid-β load measured using Pittsburgh compound B positron emission tomography as a marker for amyloid pathology.

A quantitative postmortem MRI design sensitive to white matter hyperintensity differences and their relationship with underlying pathology.

White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) associate with both cognitive slowing and motor dysfunction in the neurologically normal elderly. A full understanding of the pathology underlying this clinicoradiologic finding is currently lacking in autopsy-confirmed normal brains. To determine the histopathologic basis of WMH seen on magnetic resonance imaging, we studied the relationship between postmortem fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) intensity and neuropathologic markers of WM lesions (WMLs) that correspond to WMH in cognitively normal aging brains.

Functional impact of white matter hyperintensities in cognitively normal elderly subjects.

Objective: To investigate the impact white matter hyperintensities (WMH) detected on magnetic resonance imaging have on motor dysfunction and cognitive impairment in elderly subjects without dementia.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Population-based study on the incidence and prevalence of cognitive impairment in Olmsted County, Minnesota.