INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 09 Program Schedule 02/16/2024 03:30 pm - 04:45 pm Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 09: Epilepsy \| Oncology \| MS \| Infectious Disease Final Abstract #88 Verbal Fluency and Frontostriatal White Matter Integrity Among Older Adults with Multiple Sclerosis Brigitte Pace, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, United States Mark Wagshul, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, United States Roee Holtzer, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, United States Category: Multiple Sclerosis/ALS/Demyelinating Disorders Keyword 1: aging disorders Keyword 2: neuroimaging: structural Keyword 3: multiple sclerosis Objective: Executively driven verbal functioning is known to be associated with fronto-subcortical systems, including frontostriatal white matter. White matter degradation is a key feature of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) as well as a common feature of normal aging. Verbal fluency (VF) is sensitive to cognitive decline, particularly in MS. Its relationship to frontostriatal white matter integrity has yet to be examined among older adults with MS. In this study, we sought to examine whether, among older adults, the presence of MS was associated with poor performance on letter and category VF. We also evaluated whether white matter integrity in specific frontostriatal tracts (the anterior caudate nucleus to the superior frontal cortex (CA-SFC) and the nucleus accumbens to the rostral middle frontal cortex (NAcc-RMFC)) was differentially associated with VF performance in older adults with and without MS. Participants and Methods: 82 community-dwelling and independently ambulating older adults with MS (M_age = 64.6) and 84 without MS (M_age = 69.8) completed standard 60-sec letter (F, A, S) and category (fruits, vegetables, animals) VF tasks and a 3T Philips MRI scan. Participants were dementia-free based on established case conference procedures. Mean tract-specific fractional anisotropy (FA) and white matter lesion load of these frontostriatal white matter tracts, bilaterally, were regressed on the total number of correct words generated in letter and category VF in each group. Analyses controlled for demographic characteristics including age, sex, education, race, and global health status (medical co-morbidities). Results: Mean word generation did not differ significantly between groups for letter or category VF (p>.05). Greater lesion load in the NAcc-RMFC tract was significantly associated with worse performance on category VF among older adults with MS bilaterally (left hemisphere R²=.31, β=-.27, p=.021; right hemisphere R²=.33, β=-.31, p=.007). These associations were not significant among healthy controls (left hemisphere R²=.06, β=.06, p=.684; right hemisphere R²=.06, β=.08, p=.569). Lesion loads in the target frontostriatal tracts were not associated with letter fluency performance (p>.05) in either group. Also, FA in the above tracts was not associated with letter or category VF performance in either group (p>.05). Conclusions: Performance on letter and category VF was not different between older adults with MS and healthy controls. Only the NAcc-RMFC tract lesion loads in the MS group were related in the expected direction to category VF performance. This suggests that the disease-related pathology of white matter may uniquely underlie category VF performance in older adults with MS.

Poster

02/16/2024
03:30 pm - 04:45 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 09: Epilepsy | Oncology | MS | Infectious Disease

Final Abstract #88

Verbal Fluency and Frontostriatal White Matter Integrity Among Older Adults with Multiple Sclerosis

Brigitte Pace, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, United States
Mark Wagshul, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, United States
Roee Holtzer, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, United States

Category: Multiple Sclerosis/ALS/Demyelinating Disorders

Keyword 1: aging disorders
Keyword 2: neuroimaging: structural
Keyword 3: multiple sclerosis

Objective:

Executively driven verbal functioning is known to be associated with fronto-subcortical systems, including frontostriatal white matter. White matter degradation is a key feature of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) as well as a common feature of normal aging. Verbal fluency (VF) is sensitive to cognitive decline, particularly in MS. Its relationship to frontostriatal white matter integrity has yet to be examined among older adults with MS. In this study, we sought to examine whether, among older adults, the presence of MS was associated with poor performance on letter and category VF. We also evaluated whether white matter integrity in specific frontostriatal tracts (the anterior caudate nucleus to the superior frontal cortex (CA-SFC) and the nucleus accumbens to the rostral middle frontal cortex (NAcc-RMFC)) was differentially associated with VF performance in older adults with and without MS.

Participants and Methods:

82 community-dwelling and independently ambulating older adults with MS (M_age = 64.6) and 84 without MS (M_age = 69.8) completed standard 60-sec letter (F, A, S) and category (fruits, vegetables, animals) VF tasks and a 3T Philips MRI scan. Participants were dementia-free based on established case conference procedures. Mean tract-specific fractional anisotropy (FA) and white matter lesion load of these frontostriatal white matter tracts, bilaterally, were regressed on the total number of correct words generated in letter and category VF in each group. Analyses controlled for demographic characteristics including age, sex, education, race, and global health status (medical co-morbidities).

Results:

Mean word generation did not differ significantly between groups for letter or category VF (p>.05). Greater lesion load in the NAcc-RMFC tract was significantly associated with worse performance on category VF among older adults with MS bilaterally (left hemisphere R²=.31, β=-.27, p=.021; right hemisphere R²=.33, β=-.31, p=.007). These associations were not significant among healthy controls (left hemisphere R²=.06, β=.06, p=.684; right hemisphere R²=.06, β=.08, p=.569). Lesion loads in the target frontostriatal tracts were not associated with letter fluency performance (p>.05) in either group. Also, FA in the above tracts was not associated with letter or category VF performance in either group (p>.05).

Conclusions:

Performance on letter and category VF was not different between older adults with MS and healthy controls. Only the NAcc-RMFC tract lesion loads in the MS group were related in the expected direction to category VF performance. This suggests that the disease-related pathology of white matter may uniquely underlie category VF performance in older adults with MS.