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Cerebrovascular risk factors impact frontoparietal network integrity and executive function in healthy ageing
Veldsman M, Tai XY, Nichols T, Smith S, Peixoto J, Manohar S, Husain M.. Nature communications, 2020-09-07
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Healthy cognitive ageing is a societal and public health priority. Cerebrovascular risk factors increase the likelihood of dementia in older people but their impact on cognitive ageing in younger, healthy brains is less clear. The UK Biobank provides cognition and brain imaging measures in the largest population cohort studied to date.
Key findings
- Cerebrovascular risk factors increase the likelihood of dementia in older people but their impact on cognitive ageing in younger, healthy brains is less clear.
- The UK Biobank provides cognition and brain imaging measures in the largest population cohort studied to date.
- Here we show that cognitive abilities of healthy individuals (N = 22,059) in this sample are detrimentally affected by cerebrovascular risk factors.
- Structural equation modelling revealed that cerebrovascular risk is associated with reduced cerebral grey matter and white matter integrity within a fronto-parietal brain network underlying executive function.
Why it matters
In 22,059 healthy UK Biobank participants, people with more cerebrovascular risk factors had worse cognitive abilities. Statistical modelling linked that risk to reduced grey matter and white matter integrity in a fronto-parietal brain network that supports executive function (planning, switching and controlling attention). This is an observational association in people without dementia. It does not show that lowering vascular risk prevents Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Study designcohort study
- Participants22,059
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 71/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a cohort study following people over time. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Nature communications) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Nature Communications: journal h-index 747 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A cohort study following people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2020 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 4 / 4 | 22,059 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 103 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 12.9 citations a year over 8 year(s) since 2020 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 9.8× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 11 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 42 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Masud Husain: h-index 100 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Oxford: institution h-index 2,205 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 32895386) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 71 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18201-5
- PubMed: 32895386
- Original source →
- Free full text: Nature Communications →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
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 names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Veldsman, M., Tai, X. Y., Nichols, T., Smith, S., Peixoto, J., Manohar, S., et al. (2020). Cerebrovascular risk factors impact frontoparietal network integrity and executive function in healthy ageing. Nature communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18201-5
Vancouver
Veldsman M, Tai XY, Nichols T, Smith S, Peixoto J, Manohar S, et al. Cerebrovascular risk factors impact frontoparietal network integrity and executive function in healthy ageing. Nature communications. 2020. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18201-5. PMID: 32895386.
BibTeX
@article{veldsman2020-32895386,
author = {Veldsman, M. and Tai, X. Y. and Nichols, T. and Smith, S. and Peixoto, J. and Manohar, S. and Husain, M.},
title = {{Cerebrovascular risk factors impact frontoparietal network integrity and executive function in healthy ageing}},
journal = {Nature communications},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-18201-5},
pmid = {32895386},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18201-5}
}
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