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Associations of life-course cardiovascular risk factors with late-life cerebral haemodynamics

Dijsselhof, Mathijs B.J. ; Holtrop, Jorina ; James, Sarah Naomi ; Sudre, Carole H. ; Lu, Kirsty ; Lorenzini, Luigi ; Collij, Lyduine E. LU ; Scott, Catherine J. ; Manning, Emily N. and Thomas, David L. , et al. (2025) In Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 45(4). p.765-778
Abstract

While the associations of mid-life cardiovascular risk factors with late-life white matter lesions (WMH) and cognitive decline have been established, the role of cerebral haemodynamics is unclear. We investigated the relation of late-life (69–71 years) arterial spin labelling (ASL) MRI-derived cerebral blood flow (CBF) with life-course cardiovascular risk factors (36–71 years) and late-life white matter hyperintensity (WMH) load in 282 cognitively healthy participants (52.8% female). Late-life (69–71 years) high systolic (B = −0.15) and diastolic (B = −0.25) blood pressure, and mean arterial pressure (B = −0.25) were associated with low grey matter (GM) CBF (p < 0.03), and white matter CBF (B = −0.25; B = −0.15; B = −0.13, p <... (More)

While the associations of mid-life cardiovascular risk factors with late-life white matter lesions (WMH) and cognitive decline have been established, the role of cerebral haemodynamics is unclear. We investigated the relation of late-life (69–71 years) arterial spin labelling (ASL) MRI-derived cerebral blood flow (CBF) with life-course cardiovascular risk factors (36–71 years) and late-life white matter hyperintensity (WMH) load in 282 cognitively healthy participants (52.8% female). Late-life (69–71 years) high systolic (B = −0.15) and diastolic (B = −0.25) blood pressure, and mean arterial pressure (B = −0.25) were associated with low grey matter (GM) CBF (p < 0.03), and white matter CBF (B = −0.25; B = −0.15; B = −0.13, p < 0.03, respectively). The association between systolic blood pressure and GM CBF differed between sexes (male/female B = −0.15/0.02, p = 0.04). No associations were found with early- or mid-life cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, WMHs were associated with cerebral haemodynamics but not cardiovascular risk factors. These findings suggest that cerebral blood flow autoregulation is able to maintain stable global cerebral haemodynamics until later in life. Future studies are encouraged to investigate why cardiovascular risk factors have differential effects on haemodynamics and WMH, and their implications for cognitive decline.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ageing, arterial spin labelling, cardiovascular risk factors, cerebral blood flow, cerebrovascular health
in
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
volume
45
issue
4
pages
765 - 778
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:39552078
  • scopus:85209381017
ISSN
0271-678X
DOI
10.1177/0271678X241301261
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e67057a2-41a9-44e8-b32c-46a8cdaa448f
date added to LUP
2025-02-17 10:23:53
date last changed
2025-10-02 13:39:14
@article{e67057a2-41a9-44e8-b32c-46a8cdaa448f,
  abstract     = {{<p>While the associations of mid-life cardiovascular risk factors with late-life white matter lesions (WMH) and cognitive decline have been established, the role of cerebral haemodynamics is unclear. We investigated the relation of late-life (69–71 years) arterial spin labelling (ASL) MRI-derived cerebral blood flow (CBF) with life-course cardiovascular risk factors (36–71 years) and late-life white matter hyperintensity (WMH) load in 282 cognitively healthy participants (52.8% female). Late-life (69–71 years) high systolic (B = −0.15) and diastolic (B = −0.25) blood pressure, and mean arterial pressure (B = −0.25) were associated with low grey matter (GM) CBF (p &lt; 0.03), and white matter CBF (B = −0.25; B = −0.15; B = −0.13, p &lt; 0.03, respectively). The association between systolic blood pressure and GM CBF differed between sexes (male/female B = −0.15/0.02, p = 0.04). No associations were found with early- or mid-life cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, WMHs were associated with cerebral haemodynamics but not cardiovascular risk factors. These findings suggest that cerebral blood flow autoregulation is able to maintain stable global cerebral haemodynamics until later in life. Future studies are encouraged to investigate why cardiovascular risk factors have differential effects on haemodynamics and WMH, and their implications for cognitive decline.</p>}},
  author       = {{Dijsselhof, Mathijs B.J. and Holtrop, Jorina and James, Sarah Naomi and Sudre, Carole H. and Lu, Kirsty and Lorenzini, Luigi and Collij, Lyduine E. and Scott, Catherine J. and Manning, Emily N. and Thomas, David L. and Richards, Marcus and Hughes, Alun D. and Cash, David M. and Barkhof, Frederik and Schott, Jonathan M. and Petr, Jan and Mutsaerts, Henk J.M.M.}},
  issn         = {{0271-678X}},
  keywords     = {{Ageing; arterial spin labelling; cardiovascular risk factors; cerebral blood flow; cerebrovascular health}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{765--778}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism}},
  title        = {{Associations of life-course cardiovascular risk factors with late-life cerebral haemodynamics}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0271678X241301261}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0271678X241301261}},
  volume       = {{45}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}