Cross-sectional variations of white and grey matter in older hypertensive patients with subjective memory complaints

Mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia involve a grey matter disease, quantifiable by (18)F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), but also white matter damage, evidenced by diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI), which may play an additional pathogenic role. This study aimed to determine whether such DTI and PET variations are also interrelated in a high-risk population of older hypertensive patients with only subjective memory complaints (SMC). Sixty older hypertensive patients (75 ± 5 years) with SMC were referred to DTI and FDG-PET brain imaging, executive and memory tests, as well as peripheral and central blood pressure (BP) measurements. Mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC(mean)) was determined in overall white matter and correlated with the grey matter distribution of the metabolic rate of glucose (CMRGlc) using whole-brain voxel-based analyses of FDG-PET images. ADC(mean) was variable between individuals, ranging from 0.82 to 1.01.10(− 3) mm(2) sec(− 1), and mainly in relation with CMRGlc of areas involved in Alzheimer's disease such as internal temporal areas, posterior associative junctions, posterior cingulum but also insulo-opercular areas (global correlation coefficient: − 0.577, p < 0.001). Both the ADC(mean) and CMRGlc of the interrelated grey matter areas were additionally and concordantly linked to the results of executive and memory tests and to systolic central BP (all p < 0.05). Altogether, our findings show that cross-sectional variations in overall white brain matter are linked to the metabolism of Alzheimer-like cortical areas and to cognitive performance in older hypertensive patients with only subjective memory complaints. Additional relationships with central BP strengthen the hypothesis of a contributing pathogenic role of hypertension.