Association Between Cardiovascular Risk, Regional Brain Age Gap, and Cognition in Healthy Adults

Poster Session E - Monday, March 31, 2025, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Sriya Pallapothu¹ (sriyap@email.sc.edu), Roger D. Newman-Norlund¹, Nick Riccardi¹, Leo Bonilha², Julius Fridriksson¹, Chris Rorden²; ¹University of South Carolina, Columbia, ²University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia

Cardiovascular (CV) risk factors are known to adversely affect brain health, accelerating both neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. In this study, we examined the relationship between cardiovascular risk (QRISK3), brain health (brain age gap [BAG]), and cognition (MoCA scores). By including regional, in addition to the whole-brain age gap, we aimed to identify spatially distinct patterns of brain aging that are linked to CV risk and cognition, thereby offering a more precise framework for evaluating potential mechanistic pathways. High-resolution T1w MRI scans from 191 participants (25-79 years) were used to calculate global and regional BAGs using the volBrain pipeline. QRISK3, Relative Risk, and Heart Age Gap (HAG) captured cardiovascular risk, while the MoCA and its subscores measured cognitive function. An exploratory factor analysis identified four spatial patterns of accelerated brain aging, and Spearman correlations assessed the relationship between these four factors and CV risk / brain health. QRISK3, Relative Risk, and HAG were significantly correlated with global BAG (p’s < 0.05), independently of age. QRISK3 scores were associated with accelerated aging in cognition-related brain areas, including the thalamus, medial-frontal cortex, and anterior/middle cingulate cortex (r = 0.15, p = 0.022), as well as with lower MoCA subscores in the memory, attention, and visuospatial domains. These results suggest that certain brain regions and cognitive domains are disproportionately affected by CV risk factors, possibly due to a high metabolic demand and reliance on blood supply from cerebral small vessels. Ultimately, these findings highlight the importance of incorporating cardiovascular metrics in neurodegenerative risk assessments.

Topic Area: OTHER