TUESDAY, April 1, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Subclinical cardiac dysfunction is associated with brain imaging markers of neurodegeneration, according to a study published online March 26 in Neurology.

Amber Yaqub, from Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues leveraged data from seven prospective, community-based cohorts across Europe and the United States to examine associations between cardiac function, clinical heart failure, and structural markers on brain magnetic resonance imaging. Data were included for 10,889 participants (mean age, 66.8 years).

The researchers found a consistent association for markers of systolic dysfunction with smaller total brain volume (TBV; e.g., adjusted standardized mean difference for moderate-to-severe dysfunction, −0.19). Associations were also seen for impaired relaxation and restrictive diastolic dysfunction with smaller TBV (e.g., for impaired relaxation, −0.08) and hippocampal volume (−0.18); results were similar for E/A-ratio. No consistent association was seen for systolic and diastolic dysfunction with volume of white matter hyperintensities. Overall, 3.4 percent of participants from five cohorts with available data had clinical heart failure, which was associated with smaller brain volume, especially in the hippocampus (−0.13).

“These results highlight the importance of preserving cardiac function for promoting brain health during aging and encourage further investigations into the complex interplay between cardiac and brain health,” the authors write.

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