The interactive effect of demographic and clinical factors on hippocampal volume: A multicohort study on 1958 cognitively normal individuals

In this study, 1958 participants were included (100 AddNeuroMed, 226 ADNI, 155 AIBL, 59 BRC, 295 GENIC, 279 BioFiNDER, 398 PIVUS, and 446 SNAC‐K). ANOVA and random forest were used for testing between‐cohort differences in demographic‐clinical variables. Multiple regression was used to study the influence of demographic‐clinical variables on hippocampal volume. ANCOVA was used to analyze whether between‐cohort differences in demographic‐clinical variables explained between‐cohort differences in hippocampal volume. Age and global brain atrophy were the most important variables in explaining variability in hippocampal volume. These variables were not only important themselves but also in interaction with gender, education, MMSE, and total intracranial volume. AddNeuroMed, ADNI, and AIBL differed from the population‐based cohorts in several demographic‐clinical variables that had a significant effect on hippocampal volume. Variability in hippocampal volume in individuals with normal cognition is high. Differences that previously tended to be related to disease mechanisms could also be partly explained by demographic and clinical factors independent from the disease. Furthermore, cognitively normal individuals especially from ADNI and AIBL are not representative of the general population. These findings may have important implications for future research and clinical trials, translating imaging biomarkers to the general population, and validating current diagnos...

Source: Hippocampus - April 10, 2017 Category: Neurology Authors: Daniel Ferreira, Oskar Hansson, Jos é Barroso, Yaiza Molina, Alejandra Machado, Juan Andrés Hernández‐Cabrera, J‐Sebastian Muehlboeck, Erik Stomrud, Katarina Nägga, Olof Lindberg, David Ames, Grégoria Kalpouzos, Laura Fratiglioni, Lars Bäckman, Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research