Combination of white matter hyperintensities and Aß burden is related to cognitive composites domain scores in subjective cognitive decline: the FACEHBI cohort.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To explore whether the combination of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and amyloid-beta (Aß) deposition is associated with worse cognitive performance on cognitive composites (CCs) domain scores in individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). METHODS: Two hundred participants from the FACEHBI cohort underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 18F-florbetaben positron emission tomography (FBB-PET), and neuropsychological assessment. WMHs were addressed through the Fazekas scale, the Age-Related White Matter Changes (ARWMC) scale, and the FreeSurfer pipeline. Eight CCs domain scores were created using the principal component analysis (PCA). Age, sex, education, and apolipoprotein E (APOE) were used as adjusting variables. RESULTS: Adjusted multiple linear regression models showed that FreeSurfer (B - .245; 95% CI - .1.676, - .393, p = .016) and ß burden (SUVR) (B - .180; 95% CI - 2.140, - .292; p = .070) were associated with face-name associative memory CCs domain score, although the latest one was not statistically significant after correction for multiple testing (p = .070). There was non-significant interaction of these two factors on this same CCs domain score (p = .54). However, its cumulative effects on face-name associative performance indicated that those individuals with either higher WMH load or higher Aß burden showed the worst performance on the face-name associative memory CCs domain score. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that increased WMH load and increased Aß are independently associated with poorer episodic memory performance in SCD individuals, indicating a cumulative effect of the combination of these two pathological conditions in promoting lower cognitive performance, an aspect that could help in terms of treatment and prevention.