Skip to main content
. 2024 Aug 14;11(2):e001214. doi: 10.1136/lupus-2024-001214

Table 3. Associations between brain structural MRI metrics, cognitive performance and other clinical features in SLE cohorts of previous studies.

First author, year Neurocognitive associations (L: left, R: right, ~: correlated with, correlation coefficient—r or standardised z-statistic or mean Δ, p value) Other clinical associations (left, R: right, ~: correlated with)
Appenzeller, 2006

  • Baseline and follow-up: ↑ CD severity (r=0.9, p=0.001), ↓ composite (r not reported, p=0.015) and verbal (r not reported, p=0.010) memory, ↓ delayed recall (r not reported, p=0.010) ~ ↓ Hp volume

  • Baseline and follow-up (r, p from baseline only): ↑ Disease duration (r=0.89, p<0.001), number of CNS manifestations (r=0.65, p=0.01), past (but not active) CNS involvement (r=0.90, p<0.001), antiphospholipid Ab (r=0.50, p=06), cumulative steroid dose (r=0.74, p=01) ~ ↓ Hp volume
Appenzeller, 2007

  • Baseline (no follow-up): ↑ CD severity (z~>2.5, p<0.05), ↑ number of impaired domains (z~8.0, p<0.05) ~ ↓ total GM and WM volume

↓ Composite memory (z~10.0, p<0.05) ~ ↓ medial temporal and frontal lobe volume↓ Attention (z~>10.0, p<0.05)~ ↓ parietal lobe volume

  • Baseline (no follow-up):

↑ disease duration (z~>6.5, p<0.05) ~ ↓ total GM and WM volume↑ cumulative steroid dose (z, p not reported) ~ ↓ GM volume
Jung,2012

  • Non-NPSLE: ↓ Overall cognitive function (z not reported, p=0.029) ~ ↓ FA in R external capsule

  • NPSLE: ↓ Overall cognitive function (z not reported) ~ ↓ FA in L anterior Th radiation (p=0.004), CC - splenium/mid-body (p=0.006–0.022), L forceps major (p=0.02) and R forceps minor (p=0.049), R SLF (p=0.007–0.012), R anterior CR (p=0.031)

↓ Psychomotor speed (z not reported) ~ ↓ FA in L&R SLF (p=0.01–0.038), CC—splenium (p=0.037), mid-body (p=0.025), genu (p=0.046), L forceps major (p=0.028) and R forceps minor (p=0.042), L anterior Th radiation (p=0.019), R anterior (p=0.038) and L superior CR (p=0.044)↓ Visual memory (z not reported) ~ ↓ FA in L IFOF (p=0.001), CC—R forceps minor, L SLF (p=0.027–0.038);↓ Verbal memory (z not reported) ~ ↓ FA in L ILF (p=0.031)↓ Attention (z not reported) ~ ↓ FA CC—splenium (p=0.007), mid-body (p=0.014) and L forceps major (p=0.049), R SLF (p=0.016)↓ Executive skills (z not reported) ~ ↓ FA R SLF (p-0.04), L anterior Th radiation (p=0.018)		  NR
Gitelman, 2013 CD-cSLE subgroup classification (NR correlations w/ cognitive domains) ~ ↓ total GM volume (mean Δ=81.2 cm3, p<0.001), ↓ lateral orbito-frontal, anterior cingulate and lateral temporal regions (not reported) No correlations w/ disease duration or current/cumulative steroid dose in cSLE w/ CD
Cesar, 2015 ↓ Executive skills ~ ↓ FA in CR, CC—superior body, SLF (NR effect measures, p<0.05) NR
Bizzo, 2016 ↓ Episodic memory ~ ↓ cortical thickness R superior A/P frontal and precentral regions (within SLE cohort, z not reported, p=0.0048) NR
Bódi, 2017 ↓ Overall cognitive function ~ ↓ CA1 Hp volume (r=0.62, p=0.005) NR
Zimmerman, 2017

  • SLE w/ CD: no correlations between # of impaired domains and brain regions

 NR
Wiseman, 2017 ↓ Overall cognitive function ~ ↑ MD in WM (r=−0.31, p=0.03, not significant after age correction) ↑ Fatigue ~ ↓MD in WM (r=−0.35, p=0.01)
Cannerfelt, 2018 No correlation between any cognitive domain and Hp and CC volume↓ composite (r=0.301, p=0.021), & verbal memory (r=0.404, p=0.001)~ ↑ WM lesion volume NR
Corrêa, 2018

  • SLE w/ memory deficits vs SLE w/o memory deficits: no diffusion MRI brain differences

 NR
Nystedt, 2018

  • SLE: ↓ psychomotor speed ~ ↓ FA R hippocampal Cg (r=0.334, p=0.010)

  • NPSLE: ↓ cognitive flexibility (executive skills) ~ ↓ FA R subgenual Cg (r=0.357, p=0.038)

  • SLE: no correlations w/ depression or disease activity

↑ Fatigue ~ ↓ FA in CC—forceps minor (r=–0.229, p=0.038)↑ disease duration ~ ↓ FA in CC—forceps minor (r=−0.372, p=0.003)

  • NPSLE: ↑ Fatigue ~ ↑ MD in L hippocampal Cg (r=0.380, p=0.038)
Wiseman, 2018 ↑ g (overall cognitive function) ~ ↑ all network metrics (r>0.32, p<0.05, except mean edge weight)↑ g ~ ↑ density (r=0.48, p<0.01), strength (r=0.45, p<0.01), mean shortest path length (r=−0.34, p<0.05), global efficiency (r=0.35, p<0.05) and clustering coefficient (r=0.32, p<0.05)↑ g ~ ↑ nodal strength in R Cd (r=0.55, p<0.05) and lingual regions (r=0.41, p<0.05), L precentral (r=0.50, p<0.05) and middle frontal regions (r=0.41, p<0.05)↑ g ~ ↓ nodal strength in R Hp (r=−0.32, p<0.05) ↓ Disease duration ~ ↑ all network metrics (r<0.31, p<0.05 (except ↓ mean shortest path length; r=0.39, p<0.01)↓ SLE damage ~ ↑ nodal strength in R Cd (r=−0.37, p<0.05), superior parietal (r=−0.38, p<0.05), superior temporal (r=−0.32, p<0.05), middle frontal (r=−0.36, p<0.05), lateral occipital (r=−0.31, p<0.05) and pericalcarine regions (r=−0.36, p<0.05)
MacKay, 2019

  • Baseline (no follow-up): ↑ spatial memory ~ ↑ FA in L&R paraHp (r=0.63, p<0.002)

  • Baseline (no follow-up): ↑ serum DNRAb titres ~ ↓ FA in bilateral paraHp (r=−0.64, p<0.002)
DiFrancesco, 2020 ↓ Visual-spatial processing ~ ↑ D∗ × vbw (perfusion) (r=−0.66, p=0.026) in middle posterior precuneus↓ Psychomotor speed ~ ↑ D∗ × vbw (r=−0.63, p=0.037), D∗ (r=−0.62, p=0.043) in middle posterior precuneus ↑ Disease activity ~ ↑ D∗ (r=0.58, p=0.061), ↓ vbw (blood-water fraction) (r=−0.54, p=0.090) in middle posterior precuneus (marginally significant)
Mårtensson, 2021

  • SLE & HC: ↓ psychomotor speed ~ ↓ VBM volume in VIIIa area of L&R cerebellum (r=0.21, p=0.05)

 NR
Qian, 2022 ↓ Attention ~ ↑ FW in CC, fronto-parietal (anterior Th radiation), fronto-temporal (SLF), fronto-occipital (IFOF) WM and Cg (r=−0.51, p=0.022, all significant regions evaluated together) ↑ Cumulative steroid dose ~ ↑ FW in callosal, fronto-parietal, fronto-temporal, fronto-occipital WM, Cg (r=0.63, p=0.0041, all significant regions evaluated together)
Julio, 2023 ↑ Overall cognitive function ~ ↓ MD in whole CC (r=−0.207, p=0.03) and all CC parcels ↑ Age at disease onset (r=0.71, p<0.001), disease duration (r=0.481, p<0.001) ~ ↑ DTI metrics

AbantibodiesA/Panterior/posteriorCCcorpus callosusCdcaudateCDcognitive domainsCgcingulumCIcognitive impairmentCRcorona radiataDWater diffusion coefficientD*perfusion coefficientDTIdiffusion tensor imagingEMepisodic memoryFAfractional anisotropyGMgrey matterHChealthy controlsHphippocampusIFOFinferior fronto-occipital fasciculusILFinferior longitudinal fasciculusMDmean diffusivityNARTNational Adult Reading TestNPneuropsychiatricNRnot reportedSLFsuperior longitudinal fasciculusUFuncinate fasciculusVBMvoxel-based morphometryvbwfraction of water molecules in bloodWBwhole brainWMwhite matterΔdifference