背景：关于无卒中个体的残疾与白质高信号（WMH）严重程度之间的关联的信息有限。我们的目的是在明显健康的老年人中评估这种关联。
方法：在基于人口的横截面设计之后，社区居住的老年人接受了脑MRI对WMH严重程度进行分级,并接受了功能活动问卷以评估进行日常生活活动的能力.人口统计,临床危险因素和脑小血管疾病的其他标志物被纳入分析。
结果：未经调整的分析显示，中度至重度WMH与残疾之间存在显着关联（p=0.003），这受到年龄的影响。因果调解分析表明，年龄消除了WMH严重程度对残疾的影响的65.9％。交互模型显示，仅在中等至重度WMH高于中位年龄的受试者中，残疾程度更高。
结论：年龄增加在无卒中个体中介导WMH相关残疾的概率。
BACKGROUND: Information on the association between disability and severity of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) among stroke-free individuals is limited. We aimed to assess this association in apparently healthy older adults.
METHODS: Following a population-based cross-sectional design, community-dwelling older adults received a brain MRI to grade WMH severity and the Functional Activities Questionnaire to assess the ability to perform activities of daily living. Demographics, clinical risk factors and other markers of cerebral small vessel disease were taken into consideration for analysis.
RESULTS: Unadjusted analysis showed a significant association between moderate-to-severe WMH and disability (p = 0.003) that was tempered by the effect of age. Causal mediation analysis showed that age took away 65.9% of the effect of WMH severity on disability. An interaction model showed that disability was higher only among subjects with moderate-to-severe WMH above the median age.
CONCLUSIONS: Increasing age mediates the probability of WMH-related disability in stroke-free individuals.
