Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40950442›Full record

ArticlemedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences2025

Associations Between Vestibular Function and White Matter Microstructure in Healthy Older Adults.

Dominic Padova, Yuchen Yang, J Tilak Ratnanather, Andreia V Faria, Yuri Agrawal

Abstract readPreprint
In one paragraph

Article in medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Dominic PadovaCenter for Imaging Science, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4972-0036
Yuchen YangLi Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
J Tilak RatnanatherCenter for Imaging Science and Institute for Computational Medicine, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8631-489X
Andreia V FariaDepartment of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1673-002X
Yuri AgrawalDepartment of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Funding

TRD 4: Platforms for multi-modal and multi-scale imaging dataP41EB031771 · NIBIB · HUGO W. MOSER RES INST KENNEDY KRIEGER · PI Hanzhang Lu, Peter CM Van Zijl · 2021 to 2026
$9.9M
Does vestibular loss predict falls in patients with Alzheimer's Disease?R01AG057667 · NIA · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI OH, ESTHER SEUNGHEE · 2018 to 2022
$1.8M
Impact of vestibular loss on central vestibular pathways in aging adultsR01AG073115 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · PI AGRAWAL, YURI, RATNANATHER, JOHN TILAK · 2021 to 2025
$1.7M
Does vestibular loss predict hippocampal atrophy in aging adults?R03DC015583 · NIDCD · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI AGRAWAL, YURI · 2016 to 2018
$378k
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG057667NIA NIH HHS R01 AG073115NIBIB NIH HHS P41 EB031771NIDCD NIH HHS R03 DC015583
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The relationship between vestibular function and white matter (WM) integrity is poorly understood, despite increasing evidence linking vestibular sensory decline and motor and cognitive deficits in older adults. This study examined associations between vestibular function and the microstructural integrity of 19 WM pathways in 394 cognitively healthy participants aged 60+ from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging who had regional WM microstructure assessed by diffusion tensor imaging metrics: fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity. The vestibular functions of the saccule, utricle, and horizontal semi-circular canal were assessed using the cVEMP and oVEMP tests and the vHIT, respectively. Multiple linear regression of WM metrics onto vestibular function, adjusted for age, sex, intracranial volume, and scanner type, was used to examine the association between WM and vestibular function. We found that higher canal function was associated with higher integrity in the external capsule, the cingulum projection to the hippocampus, the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and the genu of the corpus callosum, but lower integrity in the limbs of the internal capsule, sagittal stratum, posterior thalamic radiation, the cingulum projection to the cingulate gyrus, and fornix. Utricular function was associated with higher integrity in the anterior limb of the internal capsule and the fornix but lower integrity in the retrolenticular limb of the internal capsule. Saccular function was not associated with WM microstructure. This study demonstrates for the first time potential associations between vestibular end-organ function and WM microstructure in healthy, older adults, with horizontal canal function exhibiting diffuse associations with multi-sensorimotor tracts, whereas utricular function shows more focal associations. Because these findings are concomitant with lower age-related WM integrity, they suggest that better vestibular function may confer resilience in certain pathways while potentially accelerating age-related degeneration in others. Longitudinal studies will be needed to robustly identify WM neuroimaging markers of aging-associated vestibular loss over time.

Indexed as

AgingDTIVEMPVestibularVORWhite Matter

Identifiers

PMID40950442
PMCPMC12425028

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.