Brain age predicts long-term recovery in post-stroke aphasia

17Citations
Citations of this article
37Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

The association between age and language recovery in stroke remains unclear. Here, we used neuroimaging data to estimate brain age, a measure of structural integrity, and examined the extent to which brain age at stroke onset is associated with (i) cross-sectional language performance, and (ii) longitudinal recovery of language function, beyond chronological age alone. A total of 49 participants (age: 65.2 ± 12.2 years, 25 female) underwent routine clinical neuroimaging (T1) and a bedside evaluation of language performance (Bedside Evaluation Screening Test-2) at onset of left hemisphere stroke. Brain age was estimated from enantiomorphically reconstructed brain scans using a machine learning algorithm trained on a large sample of healthy adults. A subsample of 30 participants returned for follow-up language assessments at least 2 years after stroke onset. To account for variability in age at stroke, we calculated proportional brain age difference, i.e. the proportional difference between brain age and chronological age. Multiple regression models were constructed to test the effects of proportional brain age difference on language outcomes. Lesion volume and chronological age were included as covariates in all models. Accelerated brain age compared with age was associated with worse overall aphasia severity (F(1, 48) = 5.65, P = 0.022), naming (F(1, 48) = 5.13, P = 0.028), and speech repetition (F(1, 48) = 8.49, P = 0.006) at stroke onset. Follow-up assessments were carried out ≥2 years after onset; decelerated brain age relative to age was significantly associated with reduced overall aphasia severity (F(1, 26) = 5.45, P = 0.028) and marginally failed to reach statistical significance for auditory comprehension (F(1, 26) = 2.87, P = 0.103). Proportional brain age difference was not found to be associated with changes in naming (F(1, 26) = 0.23, P = 0.880) and speech repetition (F(1, 26) = 0.00, P = 0.978). Chronological age was only associated with naming performance at stroke onset (F(1, 48) = 4.18, P = 0.047). These results indicate that brain age as estimated based on routine clinical brain scans may be a strong biomarker for language function and recovery after stroke.

Author supplied keywords

References Powered by Scopus

Unified segmentation

6590Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

A voxel-based morphometric study of ageing in 465 normal adult human brains

3987Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Hypothetical model of dynamic biomarkers of the Alzheimer's pathological cascade

3733Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Dynamic network properties of the superior temporal gyrus mediate the impact of brain age gap on chronic aphasia severity

7Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Diabetes, brain health, and treatment gains in post-stroke aphasia

5Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Intersectional sociodemographic and neurological relationships in the naming ability of persons with post-stroke aphasia

3Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Kristinsson, S., Busby, N., Rorden, C., Newman-Norlund, R., Den Ouden, D. B., Magnusdottir, S., … Fridriksson, J. (2022). Brain age predicts long-term recovery in post-stroke aphasia. Brain Communications, 4(5). https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcac252

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 11

65%

Professor / Associate Prof. 3

18%

Researcher 2

12%

Lecturer / Post doc 1

6%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Neuroscience 6

55%

Nursing and Health Professions 2

18%

Medicine and Dentistry 2

18%

Psychology 1

9%

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free