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Cerebellar vermis size and cognitive ability in community-dwelling elderly men
Thomas D Miller1, Karen J Ferguson, Louise M Reid
1SFC Brain Imaging Research Centre, Division of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. tmiller4@ed.ac.uk
None:
The cerebellum participates in multiple cognitive functions, including those that are sensitive to decline with aging, and is also vulnerable to atrophy with aging. However, few studies have examined structure-function relationships in older adults. We measured the cross-sectional area of four areas of the cerebellar vermis in 45 community-dwelling men aged 71-76, and correlated this with individual cognitive test scores and two cognitive factors derived from principal components analysis. Two out of the four areas showed positive correlations; vermis area 4 (lobules VIII-X) correlated at r = 0.47 (p = 0.001) with a general cognitive factor accounting for almost half of the cognitive test variance. These findings support the hypothesis that variations in cerebellar structure are associated with cognitive ability in older adults.
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