Cerebral Small Vessels in Motor and Cognitive Decline

描述(由申请人提供)：认知障碍和运动障碍是老年人残疾的两个最常见的原因。这两个问题可能会导致致残形式的痴呆症和跌倒。与年龄相关的认知和活动障碍显然是多因素的，但随着血管疾病在老龄化人口中的猖獗发病率，我们不能低估脑血管疾病在与年龄相关的活动障碍和认知能力下降中的作用。越来越多的流行病学和临床病理研究证据表明，血管疾病，特别是脑小血管疾病与年龄相关的认知和行动能力障碍的临床结局之间存在着密切的联系。然而，我们目前的研究和知识是基于小血管病变的替代放射学测量，这些测量大多是不可逆的。这项研究的总体目标是确定大脑小血管的血管测量，这些测量在认知和运动功能衰退开始之前可以预测小血管疾病的临床和放射学结果。这些措施将使我们能够识别处于临床前状态的个人，当我们的预防和治疗干预措施可以产生更高的影响时。此外，这些措施还可以用于未来的临床试验，以监测疾病进展和评估新疗法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cognitive and motor impairments are the two most common causes of disability in older adults. These two problems can lead to disabling forms of dementia and falls. Age-related cognitive and mobility impairments are clearly multifactorial, but with the rampant incidence of vascular disease in an aging population we cannot underestimate the role of cerebrovascular disease in age-related mobility disability and cognitive decline. Increasing evidence from epidemiological and clinico-pathological studies has established a strong link between vascular disease, particularly cerebral small vessel disease and the age- related clinical outcomes of cognitive and mobility impairment. However, our current research and knowledge is based on surrogate radiographic measure of small vessel disease which are mostly irreversible. The overall goal of this study is to identify vascular measures of cerebral small vessels which precede the onset of cognitive and motor decline and are predictive of clinical and radiographic outcomes in small vessel disease. Such measures would allow us to identify individuals in the pre-clinical state when our prevention and therapeutic interventions could have a higher impact. Moreover, these measures can also be used in future clinical trials to monitor disease progression and to evaluate new therapies.