Background: Few previous studies have described other than age- and gender related changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in healthy elderly. What is the influence of other common clinically relevant variables...Background: Few previous studies have described other than age- and gender related changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in healthy elderly. What is the influence of other common clinically relevant variables such as ache, education, MMSE, and smoking history? Purpose: To study rCBF in Swedish healthy elderly by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and evaluate the influence on rCBF of age, gender, education, MMSE, ache, and smoking with a focus on education in relation to the ‘cognitive reserve’. Methods: Healthy subjects (n = 45, 50 -75 y), sampled from a large longitudinal aging study took part in an extensive examination of health and memory, including cognitive testing and socio-economic survey. After injection of 99 mTc-hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (HMPAO) followed by SPECT the rCBF-SPECT images were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Results: Age-related decreases in uptake were seen in interhemispheric and interlobar regions. There was a positive rCBF correlation with education in the inferior frontal lobe and a higher uptake in the left temporal lobe in an age-gender-matched high education subgroup. Conclusion: The localization of the age related findings except for the medial temporal lobe differs markedly from typical dementia related findings. A reduction close to interhemispheric or interlobar space should always be related to chronological age. Education seems to have an influence on basal brain function at a resting-state condition. Knowledge of normal rCBF variations for variables such as age and education should be considered when making clinical diagnosis. The findings could be interpreted as further support for the theory of cognitive reserve.展开更多
基金Financial support was provided by Lion’s Cancer Research Foundation in Northern Sweden,the Swedish Knowledge Foundation,the Faculty of Medicine at Umea University,the Swedish research council and Borger-skapet in Umea research foundation.
文摘Background: Few previous studies have described other than age- and gender related changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in healthy elderly. What is the influence of other common clinically relevant variables such as ache, education, MMSE, and smoking history? Purpose: To study rCBF in Swedish healthy elderly by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and evaluate the influence on rCBF of age, gender, education, MMSE, ache, and smoking with a focus on education in relation to the ‘cognitive reserve’. Methods: Healthy subjects (n = 45, 50 -75 y), sampled from a large longitudinal aging study took part in an extensive examination of health and memory, including cognitive testing and socio-economic survey. After injection of 99 mTc-hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (HMPAO) followed by SPECT the rCBF-SPECT images were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Results: Age-related decreases in uptake were seen in interhemispheric and interlobar regions. There was a positive rCBF correlation with education in the inferior frontal lobe and a higher uptake in the left temporal lobe in an age-gender-matched high education subgroup. Conclusion: The localization of the age related findings except for the medial temporal lobe differs markedly from typical dementia related findings. A reduction close to interhemispheric or interlobar space should always be related to chronological age. Education seems to have an influence on basal brain function at a resting-state condition. Knowledge of normal rCBF variations for variables such as age and education should be considered when making clinical diagnosis. The findings could be interpreted as further support for the theory of cognitive reserve.
