TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating the contribution of white matter hyperintensities and cortical thickness to empathy in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases
AU - Ondri Investigators
AU - Ozzoude, Miracle
AU - Varriano, Brenda
AU - Beaton, Derek
AU - Ramirez, Joel
AU - Holmes, Melissa F.
AU - Scott, Christopher J.M.
AU - Gao, Fuqiang
AU - Sunderland, Kelly M.
AU - McLaughlin, Paula
AU - Rabin, Jennifer
AU - Goubran, Maged
AU - Kwan, Donna
AU - Roberts, Angela
AU - Bartha, Robert
AU - Symons, Sean
AU - Tan, Brian
AU - Swartz, Richard H.
AU - Abrahao, Agessandro
AU - Saposnik, Gustavo
AU - Masellis, Mario
AU - Lang, Anthony E.
AU - Marras, Connie
AU - Zinman, Lorne
AU - Shoesmith, Christen
AU - Borrie, Michael
AU - Fischer, Corinne E.
AU - Frank, Andrew
AU - Freedman, Morris
AU - Montero-Odasso, Manuel
AU - Kumar, Sanjeev
AU - Pasternak, Stephen
AU - Strother, Stephen C.
AU - Pollock, Bruce G.
AU - Rajji, Tarek K.
AU - Seitz, Dallas
AU - Tang-Wai, David F.
AU - Turnbull, John
AU - Dowlatshahi, Dar
AU - Hassan, Ayman
AU - Casaubon, Leanne
AU - Mandzia, Jennifer
AU - Sahlas, Demetrios
AU - Breen, David P.
AU - Grimes, David
AU - Jog, Mandar
AU - Steeves, Thomas D.L.
AU - Arnott, Stephen R.
AU - Black, Sandra E.
AU - Finger, Elizabeth
AU - Greenberg, Barry
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to American Aging Association.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Change in empathy is an increasingly recognised symptom of neurodegenerative diseases and contributes to caregiver burden and patient distress. Empathy impairment has been associated with brain atrophy but its relationship to white matter hyperintensities (WMH) is unknown. We aimed to investigate the relationships amongst WMH, brain atrophy, and empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Five hundred thirteen participants with Alzheimer’s disease/mild cognitive impairment, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Parkinson’s disease, or cerebrovascular disease (CVD) were included. Empathy was assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. WMH were measured using a semi-automatic segmentation and FreeSurfer was used to measure cortical thickness. A heterogeneous pattern of cortical thinning was found between groups, with FTD showing thinning in frontotemporal regions and CVD in left superior parietal, left insula, and left postcentral. Results from both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that several variables were associated with empathy, particularly cortical thickness in the fronto-insulo-temporal and cingulate regions, sex (female), global cognition, and right parietal and occipital WMH. Our results suggest that cortical atrophy and WMH may be associated with empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Future work should consider investigating the longitudinal effects of WMH and atrophy on empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases.
AB - Change in empathy is an increasingly recognised symptom of neurodegenerative diseases and contributes to caregiver burden and patient distress. Empathy impairment has been associated with brain atrophy but its relationship to white matter hyperintensities (WMH) is unknown. We aimed to investigate the relationships amongst WMH, brain atrophy, and empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Five hundred thirteen participants with Alzheimer’s disease/mild cognitive impairment, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Parkinson’s disease, or cerebrovascular disease (CVD) were included. Empathy was assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. WMH were measured using a semi-automatic segmentation and FreeSurfer was used to measure cortical thickness. A heterogeneous pattern of cortical thinning was found between groups, with FTD showing thinning in frontotemporal regions and CVD in left superior parietal, left insula, and left postcentral. Results from both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that several variables were associated with empathy, particularly cortical thickness in the fronto-insulo-temporal and cingulate regions, sex (female), global cognition, and right parietal and occipital WMH. Our results suggest that cortical atrophy and WMH may be associated with empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Future work should consider investigating the longitudinal effects of WMH and atrophy on empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases.
KW - Cerebrovascular disease
KW - Cortical thickness
KW - Empathy
KW - Neurodegenerative disease
KW - Social cognition
KW - White matter hyperintensities
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132454333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85132454333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11357-022-00539-x
DO - 10.1007/s11357-022-00539-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 35294697
AN - SCOPUS:85132454333
SN - 2509-2715
VL - 44
SP - 1575
EP - 1598
JO - GeroScience
JF - GeroScience
IS - 3
ER -