Home › Research › Risk factors
A neuroimaging approach to capture cognitive reserve: Application to Alzheimer's disease
Anna C van Loenhoud, Alle Meije Wink, Colin Groot, Sander C J Verfaillie, Jos Twisk, Frederik Barkhof, Bart van Berckel, Philip Scheltens et al.. Human brain mapping, 2017-06-20
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
Cognitive reserve (CR) explains interindividual differences in the ability to maintain cognitive function in the presence of neuropathology. We developed a neuroimaging approach including a measure of brain atrophy and cognition to capture this construct. In a group of 511 Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarker-positive subjects in different stages across the disease spectrum, we performed 3T magnetic resonance imaging and predicted gray matter (GM) volume in each voxel based on cognitive performance (i.e. a global cognitive composite score), adjusted for age, sex, disease stage, premorbid brain size (i.e. intracranial volume) and scanner type. We used standardized individual differences between predicted and observed GM volume (i.e. W-scores) as an operational measure of CR. To validate this method, we showed that education correlated with mean W-scores in whole-brain (r = -0.090, P < 0.05) and temporoparietal (r = -0.122, P < 0.01) masks, indicating that higher education was associated with more CR (i.e. greater atrophy than predicted from cognitive performance). In a voxel-wise analysis, this effect was most prominent in the right inferior and middle temporal and right superior lateral occipital cortex (P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons). Furthermore, survival analyses among subjects in the pre-dementia stage revealed that the W-scores predicted conversion to more advanced disease stages (whole-brain: hazard ratio [HR] = 0.464, P < 0.05; temporoparietal: HR = 0.397, P < 0.001). Our neuroimaging approach captures CR with high anatomical detail and at an individual level. This standardized method is applicable to various brain diseases or CR proxies and can flexibly incorporate different neuroimaging modalities and cognitive parameters, making it a promising tool for scientific and clinical purposes. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4703-4715, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Key findings
- To validate this method, we showed that education correlated with mean W-scores in whole-brain (r = -0.090, P < 0.05) and temporoparietal (r = -0.122, P < 0.01) masks, indicating that higher education was associated with more CR (i.e. greater atrophy than predicted from cognitive performance).
- Furthermore, survival analyses among subjects in the pre-dementia stage revealed that the W-scores predicted conversion to more advanced disease stages (whole-brain: hazard ratio [HR] = 0.464, P < 0.05; temporoparietal: HR = 0.397, P < 0.001).
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Risk factors, ranked →
Study details
- Effect sizeHR = 0.397
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 45/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 25 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 45 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Human brain mapping) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2017 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 3 / 3 | Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 28631336) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 25 / 56 | Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 25 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 45 out of 100. |
| Total | 45 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
van Loenhoud, A. C., Wink, A. M., Groot, C., Verfaillie, S. C. J., Twisk, J., Barkhof, F., et al. (2017). A neuroimaging approach to capture cognitive reserve: Application to Alzheimer's disease. Human brain mapping. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23695
Vancouver
van Loenhoud AC, Wink AM, Groot C, Verfaillie SCJ, Twisk J, Barkhof F, et al. A neuroimaging approach to capture cognitive reserve: Application to Alzheimer's disease. Human brain mapping. 2017. doi:10.1002/hbm.23695. PMID: 28631336.
BibTeX
@article{vanloenhoud2017-28631336,
author = {van Loenhoud, Anna C and Wink, Alle Meije and Groot, Colin and Verfaillie, Sander C J and Twisk, Jos and Barkhof, Frederik and van Berckel, Bart and Scheltens, Philip and others},
title = {{A neuroimaging approach to capture cognitive reserve: Application to Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {Human brain mapping},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1002/hbm.23695},
pmid = {28631336},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23695}
}