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 - Strong, Michael
AU - Kleinstiver, Peter
AU - Lawrence-dewar, Jane
AU - Rashkovan, Natalie
AU - Bronskil, Susan
AU - Fraser, Julia
AU - Mcilroy, Bill
AU - Cornish, Ben
AU - Van Ooteghem, Karen
AU - Faria, Frederico
AU - Sarquis-adamson, Yanina
AU - Black, Alanna
AU - Greenberg, Barry
AU - Hatch, Wendy
AU - Hudson, Chris
AU - Leontieva, Elena
AU - Margolin, Ed
AU - Mandelcorn, Efrem
AU - Tayyari, Faryan
AU - Defrawy, Sherif
AU - Brien, Don
AU - Chen, Ying
AU - Coe, Brian
AU - Munoz, Doug
AU - Southwell, Alisia
AU - Bulman, Dennis
AU - Dilliott, Allison Ann
AU - Ghani, Mahdi
AU - Hegele, Rob
AU - Robinson, John
AU - Rogaeva, Ekaterina
AU - Farhan, Sali
AU - Haddad, Seyyed Mohammad Hassan
AU - Nanayakkara, Nuwan
AU - Berezuk, Courtney
AU - Adamo, Sabrina
AU - Binns, Malcolm
AU - Lou, Wendy
AU - Theyers, Athena
AU - Uthirakumaran, Abiramy
AU - Zou, Guangyong Gy
AU - Sujanthan, Sujeevini
AU - Zamyadi, Mojdeh
AU - Munoz, David
AU - Dixon, Roger A.
AU - Woulfe, John
AU - Levine, Brian
AU - Orange, J. B.
AU - Peltsch, Alicia
AU - Troyer, Angela
AU - Chum, Marvin
AU - Tartaglia, Maria Carmela
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was conducted with the support of the Ontario Brain Institute, an independent non-profit corporation, funded partially by the Ontario government. The opinions, results, and conclusions are those of the authors and no endorsement by the Ontario Brain Institute is intended or should be inferred. Matching funds were provided by participant hospital and research foundations, including the Baycrest Foundation, Bruyere Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation, London Health Sciences Foundation, McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences, Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute, Queen’s University Faculty of Health Sciences, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, University Health Network, Sunnybrook, and the Windsor/Essex County ALS Association. The Temerty Family Foundation provided the major infrastructure matching funds.
Funding Information:
TKR has received research support from Brain Canada, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, BrightFocus Foundation, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Research Chair, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, National Institutes of Health, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, and the Weston Brain Institute. TKR also received in-kind equipment support for an investigator-initiated study from Magstim, and in-kind research accounts from Scientific Brain Training Pro. DPB is supported by a Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship (214571/Z/18/Z). Other authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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
U2 - 10.1007/s11357-022-00539-x
DO - 10.1007/s11357-022-00539-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 35294697
SN - 2509-2715
VL - 44
SP - 1575
EP - 1598
JO - GeroScience
JF - GeroScience
ER -