BACKGROUND:High blood pressure (BP) in middle-aged and older adults is associated with a brain white matter (WM) microstructural abnormality. However, little evidence is available in healthy young adults. We investigated the associations between high BP and WM microstructural integrity in young adults.METHODS:This study included 1015 healthy young adults (542 women, 22–37 years) from the Human Connectome Project. Brachial systolic and diastolic BP were measured using a semiautomatic or manual sphygmomanometer. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was acquired to obtain diffusion tensor imaging metrics of free water (FW) content, FW-corrected WM fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity, radial diffusivity, and mean diffusivity. Using whole-brain voxel-wise linear regression models and ANCOVA, we examined associations of BP and hypertension stage with diffusion tensor imaging metrics after adjusting for age, sex, education, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol consumption history, and differences in the b value used for diffusion magnetic resonance imaging.RESULTS:Systolic and diastolic BP of the sample (mean±SD) were 122.8±13.0 and 76.0±9.9 mm Hg, respectively. Associations of BP with diffusion tensor imaging metrics revealed regional heterogeneity for FW-corrected fractional anisotropy. High BP and high hypertension stage were associated with higher FW and lower FW-corrected axial diffusivity, FW-corrected radial diffusivity, and FW-corrected mean diffusivity. Moreover, associations of high diastolic BP and hypertension stage with high FW were found only in men not in women.CONCLUSIONS:High BP in young adults is associated with altered brain WM microstructural integrity, suggesting that high BP may have damaging effects on brain WM microstructural integrity in early adulthood, particularly in men.

中文翻译：

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通过 MRI 扩散张量成像评估健康年轻人血压与脑白质微结构完整性的关系

背景：中老年人高血压（BP）与脑白质（WM）微结构异常有关。然而，针对健康年轻人的证据却很少。我们调查了年轻人高血压与 WM 微观结构完整性之间的关联。方法：本研究纳入了来自人类连接组项目的 1015 名健康年轻人（542 名女性，22-37 岁）。使用半自动或手动血压计测量肱动脉收缩压和舒张压。采集扩散加权磁共振成像以获得自由水 (FW) 含量、FW 校正的 WM 分数各向异性、轴向扩散率、径向扩散率和平均扩散率的扩散张量成像指标。使用全脑体素线性回归模型和ANCOVA，我们在调整年龄、性别、教育程度、体重指数、吸烟状况、饮酒史以及不同人群的差异后，检查了血压和高血压分期与弥散张量成像指标的关联。b值用于扩散磁共振成像。结果：样本的收缩压和舒张压（平均值±标准差）分别为122.8±13.0和76.0±9.9 mm Hg。 BP 与扩散张量成像指标的关联揭示了 FW 校正分数各向异性的区域异质性。高血压和高血压阶段与较高的 FW 和较低的 FW 校正轴向扩散率、FW 校正径向扩散率和 FW 校正平均扩散率相关。此外，高舒张压和高血压阶段与高 FW 的关联仅在男性中发现，而在女性中没有发现。结论：年轻人的高血压与大脑 WM 微结构完整性改变相关，表明高血压可能对大脑 WM 微结构具有破坏性影响成年早期的诚信，尤其是男性。