The following is a summary of “Racial differences in white matter hyperintensity burden in older adults,” published in the February 2023 issue of the Neurobiology of Aging by Morrison et al.

White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are considered one of the earliest pathogenic changes related to aging. Therefore, race and the prevalence of WMH have been the subject of some discussion. This research aimed to determine if and how racial disparities in WMHs are influenced by vascular risk factors. To be included in the study, participants in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative needed to have a baseline MRI, a diagnosis, and WMH readings. 

The study included 91 Black people and 1,937 White people. One thousand pairs of White and Black participants were selected at random and matched on age, sex, education, and diagnosis using bootstrap resampling. Linear models were used to examine the effect of race on WMHs at baseline and how they evolve, with and without the addition of vascular factors. It was shown that vascular risk factors were more common among Blacks than Whites. 

Blacks were found to have a larger frontal, parietal, deep, and total WMH burden than Whites when vascular factors were removed from the equation. There were no statistically significant differences in the rate of WMH accumulation across races. After accounting for vascular variables, only variations in total longitudinal parietal WMH between races remained statistically significant. This supports the hypothesis that vascular variables contribute to the racial group variations seen in WMHs.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197458022002421