Exploring Cerebrovascular Function in Osteoarthritis: “Heads‐up”

Global cerebrovascular reactivity to hypercapnia is lower across nine intracranial arteries in individuals with osteoarthritis (OA) compared to those without OA. As well, middle cerebral artery flow autoregulation, and brachial artery flow ‐mediation dilation are lower in OA. These differences exist even after adjusting for common cardiovascular risk factors. AbstractIndividuals with osteoarthritis (OA) are at greater risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular incidents; yet, cerebrovascular control remains uncharacterized. Our primary outcome was to acquire cerebrovascular control metrics in patients with OA and compare measures to healthy control adults (CTL) without OA or cardiovascular complications. Our primary covariate was a 10 ‐year risk factor for cardiovascular and stroke incidents, and secondary covariates were other cardiovascular disease risk factors (i.e., body mass index, carotid intima media thickness, and brachial flow‐mediated dilation). Our secondary outcomes were to assess anatomical and functional changes that may be related to cerebrovascular reactivity were also acquired such as white matter lesion volume and brief cognitive assessments. In 25 adults (n = 13 CTL,n = 12 OA), under hypercapnia, magnetic resonance imaging (3T) was used to acquire a “Global Cerebrovascular Reactivity” index across the larger intracranial cerebral arteries and white matter lesions, and transcranial Doppler was used for both middle cerebral artery hemodynamic re...
Source: Physiological Reports - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Original Research Source Type: research