Research progress on cognitive impairment and the expression of serum inflammatory markers in patients with white matter hyperintensities: a narrative review

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are magnetic resonance imaging manifestations of brain white matter lesions, which are common in the elderly. There is a correlation between WMH and cognitive impairment, but its imaging features lack heterogeneity, which makes early diagnosis difficult. Studies have found that cognitive impairment in patients with WMH is closely related to changes in the expression of serum inflammatory markers. This article reviews the correlation between WMH and cognitive function, as well as the correlation between cognitive impairment and serum inflammatory markers in patients with WMH. METHODS: We searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), PubMed, Medline and EMBASE databases to identify studies on the correlation between cognitive impairment and serum inflammatory markers in patients with WMH published between the databases’ dates of inception and December 2021. KEY CONTENT AND FINDINGS: Serum inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), plasma lipoprotein phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) and interleukins (ILs) are closely related to cognitive impairment in patients with WMH. CONCLUSIONS: CRP, TNF-α, ILs and others systemic inflammatory markers can be used to help diagnose and predict cognitive impairment in WMH patients. But more in-depth and comprehensive research is needed to determine the role of systemic inflammatory markers in diagnosing WMH cognitive impairment.