Large Perivascular Spaces may predict dementia risk
Perivascular spaces are involved in clearing waste and toxins from the brain and may be associated with the brain changes associated with aging.
The study involved 414 people with an average age of 80. Participants took cognitive tests of thinking and memory skills and were assessed for the presence of dementia at the beginning of the study and every two years for eight years. The participants had MRI brain scans to check for enlarged perivascular spaces in two key areas of the brain at the start of the study and then every two years for eight years. The top quarter of the people with the largest number of enlarged perivascular spaces, designated as severe cases, were compared to those with fewer or no enlarged spaces.
"Severe perivascular space disease may be a marker for an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia," said study author Matthew Paradise, MB.Ch.B., M.Sc., of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. "More research is needed to understand how these enlarged spaces develop, as they could be an important potential biomarker to help with early diagnosis of dementia."
Researchers found that people with the largest number of enlarged perivascular spaces in both areas of the brain were nearly three times more likely to develop dementia during the study than people with fewer or no enlarged spaces.
https://n.neurology.org/content/early/2021/01/27/WNL.0000000000011537
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