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From the Departments of Neurology (Drs. Hunt, Orrison, and Rosenberg), Radiology (Dr. Orrison), Family Medicine (Dr. Rhyne), and Pathology (Dr. Garry) of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, the Psychology Department (Drs. Yeo and Haaland) of the University of New Mexico, and the Neurology (Dr. Rosenberg) and Psychology (Dr. Haaland) Services of the Veterans Medical Center, Albuquerque, NM.
The clinical relevance of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) seen on MRIs of elderly individuals is controversial. To resolve this issue, we performed MRI and neuropsychological testing on 46 healthy participants in the longitudinal Aging Process Study at the University of New Mexico. We graded the MRIs for severity of WMH using a scale tested on an elderly patient population. We found that 22% of normal subjects had moderate lesions and 9% had severe lesions. All subjects had normal neurologic examination findings and were within normal limits on a battery of neuropsychological tests. Neuropsychological performance decreased and the severity of WMH increased with age. However, when the data were corrected for age, there was no correlation between neuropsychological function and the presence of WMH. We conclude that white matter changes in the elderly by themselves are of doubtful clinical significance.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Rosenberg, Department of Neurology, UNM School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM 87131.
Supported by funds from the UNM Clinical Research Center (# 86–172), the UNM Aging Process Study (AG02049), and the State-Funded Center for Non-Invasive Diagnosis. The Lovelace Medical Foundation supported some of the memory tests.
Presented in part at the fortieth annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Cincinnati, OH, April 1988.
Received February 28, 1989. Accepted for publication in final form May 17, 1989.
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