Journal
NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA
Volume 122, Issue -, Pages 51-61Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.11.013
Keywords
Ageing; Cortical networks; Cortical thickness; Cortical hubs
Funding
- Health Research Board
- Higher Education Authority, through its PRTLI Program
- Atlantic Philanthropies
- Irish Life
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Ageing is associated with widespread alterations to the brain's anatomy and to attendant cortical networks. Yet, few studies to date have indexed anatomical covariance network differences within the age distribution of older adulthood, despite known phenotypic variation. Here, we explored cortical anatomical covariance networks in middle and older age cross-sectionally, using a large sample of community-dwelling older adults from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). We assayed age-related anatomical changes via cortical thickness. Moreover, we explored age-related alterations in small-world and global properties of cortical thickness covariance networks, by targeting analyses towards the elder (ages 75-88; n = 88) and younger (ages 52-64; n = 95) sample members. Age, sex, and chronic disease-adjusted vertex-wise analyses revealed robust reductions in cortical thickness with age. Graph theoretical analyses of cortical thickness covariance networks revealed significantly lower betweenness centrality (i.e., network hub status) at left inferior parietal cortex in the eldest participant group as compared to the youngest. Furthermore, indices of small-worldness revealed greater lambda (i.e., less effective integration) across the right hemisphere of the eldest participant group versus the youngest. Our results are interpreted in the context of mechanisms of cortical atrophy in ageing, functional network organisation, and cognition in ageing.
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