Cited by 256Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchCardiovascular Function and Risk FactorsCardiovascular Health and Disease Prevention

Cardiac Index Is Associated With Brain Aging: The Framingham Heart Study

Open access
Jefferson, Angela L., Himali, Jayandra J., Beiser, Alexa S., Au, Rhoda, Massaro, Joseph M., Seshadri, Sudha, Gona, Philimon, Salton, Carol J. +5 more·2010·Circulation

Abstract

Background— Cardiac dysfunction is associated with neuroanatomic and neuropsychological changes in aging adults with prevalent cardiovascular disease, theoretically because systemic hypoperfusion disrupts cerebral perfusion, contributing to subclinical brain injury. We hypothesized that cardiac function, as measured by cardiac index, would be associated with preclinical brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological markers of ischemia and Alzheimer disease in the community. Methods and Results— Brain MRI, cardiac MRI, neuropsychological, and laboratory data were collected on 1504 Framingham Offspring Cohort participants free of clinical stroke, transient ischemic attack, or dementia (age, 61±9 years; 54% women). Neuropsychological and brain MRI variables were related to cardiac MRI–assessed cardiac index (cardiac output/body surface area). In multivariable-adjusted models, cardiac index was positively related to total brain volume ( P =0.03) and information processing speed ( P =0.02) and inversely related to lateral ventricular volume ( P =0.048). When participants with clinically prevalent cardiovascular disease were excluded, the relation between cardiac index and total brain volume remained ( P =0.02). Post hoc comparisons revealed that participants in the bottom cardiac index tertile (values <2.54) and middle cardiac index tertile (values between 2.54 and 2.92) had significantly lower brain volumes ( P =0.04) than participants in the top cardiac index tertile (values >2.92). Conclusions— Although observational data cannot establish causality, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that decreasing cardiac function, even at normal cardiac index levels, is associated with accelerated brain aging.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1161/circulationaha.109.905091

Cites

47 of 47 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Reduced cardiac output is associated with executive dysfunction (mainly sequencing and planning difficulties) and regional WMLs adjacent to subcortical nuclei.

    “Specifically, reduced cardiac output has been associated with executive dysfunction (mainly sequencing and planning difficulties)381 and regional WMLs adjacent to the subcortical nuclei.382”

    From Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: A Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (2011) · cites this paper as [382]

    The Discussion reports that, among older adults with cardiovascular disease, reduced cardiac output was associated with executive dysfunction and white matter hyperintensities. It does not specify sequencing or planning difficulties, or locate the lesions adjacent to subcortical nuclei. The paper’s own Results found only a borderline association with a combined executive-function/information-processing score. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • In the Framingham Heart Study sample of more than 1500 participants, higher levels of cardiac output were associated with increased cognitive processing speed in older adulthood.

    “In the Framingham Heart Study sample of more than 1500 participants (Jefferson et al., 2010), higher levels of cardiac output, one of the primary cardiovascular determinants of challenge states, was associated with increased cognitive processing speed in older adulthood.”

    From More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science (2018) · cites this paper as Jefferson et al., 2010

    The Abstract’s Methods and Results section identifies 1,504 Framingham participants, and the Results link low cardiac index to poorer performance on a processing-speed test. But the Results also state that cardiac index as a continuous measure was unrelated to neuropsychological factor scores; the reported finding concerns a low cardiac-index cutoff, not a general association between higher cardiac output and faster processing in older adults. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [22]Spreen O Strauss E A compendium of neuropsychological tests 1991 Oxford University Press New York

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Jefferson, A. L., Himali, J. J., Beiser, A. S., Au, R., Massaro, J. M., Seshadri, S., Gona, P., Salton, C. J., DeCarli, C., O'Donnell, C. J., Benjamin, E. J., Wolf, P. A., & Manning, W. J.
Affiliations
  • Boston University (US)
  • From the Department of Neurology (A.L.J., J.J.H., A.S.B., R.A., S.S., P.A.W.), Alzheimer’s Disease Center (A.L.J., S.S.), Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute (A.L.J., E.J.B.), and Department of Medicine (A.L.J., E.J.B.), Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass; Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Mass (J.J.H., A.S.B., J.M.M., P.G.); National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, Mass (J.J.H., A.S.B., R.A., J.M.M., S...
Venue
Circulation
Published
2010-08-17
Volume
122
Issue
7
Pages
690-697
ISSN
  • 0009-7322 (ISSN-L)
  • 1524-4539
OpenAlex
W2121884189
Cited by
256
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 12
FWCI
12.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Circulation (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Alzheimer's Association
  • National Institutes of Health (n01hc25195-41-0-1)
  • National Institute on Aging (AG021028, P30AG010129, AG-16495, K23AG030962, R01AG021028, R01AG031287, AG031287, AG030962, R01AG028321, AG010129, AG08122, AG033193, R01AG033040, AG027480, R01AG016495, AG 033040, P30AG013846, AG-028321, R03AG027480, R01AG033193, R01AG008122)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL-076784, HC25195, HL070279, R01HL070279, N01-HC-025195, R01HL076784)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS017950, R01NS017950)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Function and Risk Factors
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Health and Disease Prevention
Keywords
cardiac index, brain aging, cardiac output, cerebral hypoperfusion, total brain volume, lateral ventricular volume, processing speed, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, ischemia, Framingham Offspring cohort, cardiac MRI, brain MRI
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Alzheimer Disease, Brain, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Health Status Indicators, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Cohort Studies

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review