Cerebral blood flow and neuropsychological functioning in elderly vascular disease patients

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the relationships between positron emission tomography (PET)-based quantitative measures of cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reserve and neuropsychological functioning in elderly individuals with atherosclerotic vascular disease. It was hypothesized that cerebrovascular function would be significantly associated with neuropsychological functioning. Results showed that both baseline global cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reserve were significantly associated with global neuropsychological functioning, when controlling for age and sex. Cerebrovascular reserve was additionally associated with performance on measures of memory and attention. Additional research is needed to determine whether measures of cerebral blood flow can be used to predict cognitive decline.

Keywords:

• Cerebral blood flow
• Vascular disease
• Cognition
• Vascular cognitive impairment
• Positron emission tomography

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by grants to David J. Moser from the National Institute on Aging (1 R03 AG024609-01) and the American Federation for Aging Research. Additional support was provided by the University of Iowa General Clinical Research Center (Grant RR00059 from the General Clinical Research Centers Program, National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health). The authors would like to thank Christine Sinkey for assistance in coordinating laboratory procedures. The authors do not have any conflicts to disclose.