Annebelle Michielsen, Kevin van Veenhuijzen, Mark R Janse van Mantgem, Michael A van Es, Jan H Veldink, Ruben P A van Eijk, Leonard H van den Berg, Henk-Jan Westeneng
{"title":"Association Between Hypothalamic Volume and Metabolism, Cognition, and Behavior in Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.","authors":"Annebelle Michielsen, Kevin van Veenhuijzen, Mark R Janse van Mantgem, Michael A van Es, Jan H Veldink, Ruben P A van Eijk, Leonard H van den Berg, Henk-Jan Westeneng","doi":"10.1212/WNL.0000000000209603","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objectives: </strong>Dysfunction of energy metabolism, cognition, and behavior are important nonmotor symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), negatively affecting survival and quality of life, but poorly understood. Neuroimaging is ideally suited to studying nonmotor neurodegeneration in ALS, but few studies have focused on the hypothalamus, a key region for regulating energy homeostasis, cognition, and behavior. We evaluated, therefore, hypothalamic neurodegeneration in ALS and explored the relationship between hypothalamic volumes and dysregulation of energy metabolism, cognitive and behavioral changes, disease progression, and survival.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Patients with ALS and population-based controls were included for this cross-sectional and longitudinal MRI study. The hypothalamus was segmented into 5 subregions and their volumes were calculated. Linear (mixed) models, adjusted for age, sex, and total intracranial volume, were used to compare hypothalamic volumes between groups and to analyze associations with metabolism, cognition, behavior, and disease progression. Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate the relationship of hypothalamic volumes with survival. Permutation-based corrections for multiple hypothesis testing were applied to all analyses to control the family-wise error rate.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Data were available for 564 patients with ALS and 356 controls. The volume of the anterior superior subregion of the hypothalamus was smaller in patients with ALS than in controls (β = -0.70 [-1.15 to -0.25], <i>p</i> = 0.013). Weight loss, memory impairments, and behavioral disinhibition were associated with a smaller posterior hypothalamus (β = -4.79 [-8.39 to -2.49], <i>p</i> = 0.001, β = -10.14 [-15.88 to -4.39], <i>p</i> = 0.004, and β = -12.09 [-18.83 to -5.35], <i>p</i> = 0.003, respectively). Furthermore, the volume of this subregion decreased faster over time in patients than in controls (β = -0.25 [0.42 to -0.09], <i>p</i> = 0.013), and a smaller volume of this structure was correlated with shorter survival (hazard ratio = 0.36 [0.21-0.61], <i>p</i> = 0.029).</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>We obtained evidence for hypothalamic involvement in ALS, specifically marked by atrophy of the anterior superior subregion. Moreover, we found that atrophy of the posterior hypothalamus was associated with weight loss, memory dysfunction, behavioral disinhibition, and survival, and that this subregion deteriorated faster in patients with ALS than in controls. These findings improve our understanding of nonmotor involvement in ALS and could contribute to the identification of new treatment targets for this devastating disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":19256,"journal":{"name":"Neurology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neurology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000209603","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/6/14 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background and objectives: Dysfunction of energy metabolism, cognition, and behavior are important nonmotor symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), negatively affecting survival and quality of life, but poorly understood. Neuroimaging is ideally suited to studying nonmotor neurodegeneration in ALS, but few studies have focused on the hypothalamus, a key region for regulating energy homeostasis, cognition, and behavior. We evaluated, therefore, hypothalamic neurodegeneration in ALS and explored the relationship between hypothalamic volumes and dysregulation of energy metabolism, cognitive and behavioral changes, disease progression, and survival.
Methods: Patients with ALS and population-based controls were included for this cross-sectional and longitudinal MRI study. The hypothalamus was segmented into 5 subregions and their volumes were calculated. Linear (mixed) models, adjusted for age, sex, and total intracranial volume, were used to compare hypothalamic volumes between groups and to analyze associations with metabolism, cognition, behavior, and disease progression. Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate the relationship of hypothalamic volumes with survival. Permutation-based corrections for multiple hypothesis testing were applied to all analyses to control the family-wise error rate.
Results: Data were available for 564 patients with ALS and 356 controls. The volume of the anterior superior subregion of the hypothalamus was smaller in patients with ALS than in controls (β = -0.70 [-1.15 to -0.25], p = 0.013). Weight loss, memory impairments, and behavioral disinhibition were associated with a smaller posterior hypothalamus (β = -4.79 [-8.39 to -2.49], p = 0.001, β = -10.14 [-15.88 to -4.39], p = 0.004, and β = -12.09 [-18.83 to -5.35], p = 0.003, respectively). Furthermore, the volume of this subregion decreased faster over time in patients than in controls (β = -0.25 [0.42 to -0.09], p = 0.013), and a smaller volume of this structure was correlated with shorter survival (hazard ratio = 0.36 [0.21-0.61], p = 0.029).
Discussion: We obtained evidence for hypothalamic involvement in ALS, specifically marked by atrophy of the anterior superior subregion. Moreover, we found that atrophy of the posterior hypothalamus was associated with weight loss, memory dysfunction, behavioral disinhibition, and survival, and that this subregion deteriorated faster in patients with ALS than in controls. These findings improve our understanding of nonmotor involvement in ALS and could contribute to the identification of new treatment targets for this devastating disease.
期刊介绍:
Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology, aspires to be the premier peer-reviewed journal for clinical neurology research. Its mission is to publish exceptional peer-reviewed original research articles, editorials, and reviews to improve patient care, education, clinical research, and professionalism in neurology.
As the leading clinical neurology journal worldwide, Neurology targets physicians specializing in nervous system diseases and conditions. It aims to advance the field by presenting new basic and clinical research that influences neurological practice. The journal is a leading source of cutting-edge, peer-reviewed information for the neurology community worldwide. Editorial content includes Research, Clinical/Scientific Notes, Views, Historical Neurology, NeuroImages, Humanities, Letters, and position papers from the American Academy of Neurology. The online version is considered the definitive version, encompassing all available content.
Neurology is indexed in prestigious databases such as MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Biological Abstracts®, PsycINFO®, Current Contents®, Web of Science®, CrossRef, and Google Scholar.