Investigating the effect of hypertension on vascular cognitive impairment by using the resting-state functional connectome

Tai-Hsin Hung; Vincent Chin-Hung Chen; Yu-Chen Chuang; Yen-Hsuan Hsu; Wen-Chau Wu; Yuan-Hsiung Tsai; Roger S McIntyre; Jun-Cheng Weng

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-54996-9

Investigating the effect of hypertension on vascular cognitive impairment by using the resting-state functional connectome

Sci Rep. 2024 Feb 25;14(1):4580. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-54996-9.

Authors

Tai-Hsin Hung^#^{1

2}, Vincent Chin-Hung Chen^#^{1

2}, Yu-Chen Chuang^{3

4}, Yen-Hsuan Hsu⁵, Wen-Chau Wu^{3

4}, Yuan-Hsiung Tsai^{1

6}, Roger S McIntyre^{7

8

9}, Jun-Cheng Weng^{10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
² Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
³ Institute of Medical Device and Imaging, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Psychology, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁷ Mood Disorder Psychopharmacology Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁸ Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁹ Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan. jcweng@mail.cgu.edu.tw.
¹¹ Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Chang Gung University, No. 259, Wenhua 1st Rd., Guishan Dist., Taoyuan, 33302, Taiwan. jcweng@mail.cgu.edu.tw.
¹² Department of Artificial Intelligence, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. jcweng@mail.cgu.edu.tw.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Hypertension (HTN) affects over 1.2 billion individuals worldwide and is defined as systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥ 140 mmHg and diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg. Hypertension is also considered a high risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases, which may lead to vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). VCI is associated with executive dysfunction and is also a transitional stage between hypertension and vascular dementia. Hence, it is essential to establish a reliable approach to diagnosing the severity of VCI. In 28 HTN (51-83 yrs; 18 males, 10 females) and 28 healthy controls (HC) (51-75 yrs; 7 males, 21 females), we investigated which regions demonstrate alterations in the resting-state functional connectome due to vascular cognitive impairment in HTN by using the amplitude of the low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), graph theoretical analysis (GTA), and network-based statistic (NBS) methods. In the group comparison between ALFF/ReHo, HTN showed reduced spontaneous activity in the regions corresponding to vascular or metabolic dysfunction and enhanced brain activity, mainly in the primary somatosensory cortex and prefrontal areas. We also observed cognitive dysfunction in HTN, such as executive function, processing speed, and memory. Both the GTA and NBS analyses indicated that the HTN demonstrated complex local segregation, worse global integration, and weak functional connectivity. Our findings show that resting-state functional connectivity was altered, particularly in the frontal and parietal regions, by hypertensive individuals with potential vascular cognitive impairment.

Keywords: Executive dysfunction; Functional connectivity; Hypertension; Resting-state functional MRI; Vascular cognitive impairment.

MeSH terms

Brain / diagnostic imaging
Brain Mapping
Cognitive Dysfunction*
Connectome* / methods
Female
Humans
Hypertension* / complications
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Male

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding