Association of systemic inflammatory markers with white matter hyperintensities and microstructural injury: an analysis of UK Biobank data

作者：Yuan Qiao, Lei Zhao, Chaohua Cong, Yuna Li, Shan Tian, Xirui Zhu, Junting Yang, Shanshan Cao, Panlong Li, Jingjing Su · 发表于：Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1503/jpn.240039 · 被引用次数：18 · 研究领域：Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms、Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research、Tryptophan and brain disorders

BACKGROUND: White matter damage is closely associated with cognitive and psychiatric symptoms and is prevalent in cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD); although the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in CSVD remain elusive, inflammation plays a crucial role. We sought to investigate the relationship between systemic inflammation markers and imaging markers of CVSD, namely white matter hyperintensity (WMH) and microstructural injury. METHODS: We conducted a study involving both cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the UK Biobank Cohort. We performed multiple linear regression analyses, adjusted for potential confounders, to explore the associations between systemic inflammation markers (e.g., systemic immune-inflammation index [SII], neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], C-reactive protein [CRP] levels, monocyte count, neutrophil count) and macro- and microstructural white matter injury, as markers of CSVD. We performed Mendelian randomization analysis to investigate the genetically predictive effect of monocytes on WMH, as well as mediation analysis to clarify whether inflammatory markers affected cognitive function via white matter injury. RESULTS: We included 36 411 participants (mean age 54.8 ± 7.5 yr, 51.9% female) from the UK Biobank Cohort. We found that SII was significantly associated with both WMH and microstructural injury markers (fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, intracellular volume fraction, and isotropic compartment volume fraction [ISOVF]), an...