Choroid Plexus Volume in Rural Chinese Older Adults: Distribution and Association With Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

Background: The choroid plexus (CP) is involved in neurodegenerative diseases. However, the association of CP with cardiovascular risk factors and cerebral small vessel disease in older adults remains unclear.

Methods and results: This population-based study included 1263 participants (60 years and older) from the MIND-China (Multimodal Interventions to Delay Dementia and Disability in Rural China) substudy (2018-2020), of which 111 individuals completed diffusion tensor imaging examination. CP volume was automatically segmented. White matter hyperintensities (WMHs), enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS), cerebral microbleeds, and lacunes were assessed following the Standards for Reporting Vascular Changes on Neuroimaging 1. Peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity and free water were derived from diffusion tensor imaging images. We used linear regression models to evaluate the association between CP volume and cardiovascular risk factors, WMH volumes, and diffusion tensor imaging metrics, and logistic regression models to examine the association between CP volume and EPVS, cerebral microbleeds, and lacunes. The CP volume increased with age (P<0.001). Men (β coefficient=0.47 [95% CI, 0.29-0.64]) and participants with diabetes (β coefficient=0.16 [95% CI, 0.01-0.31]) had larger CP volumes than women and individuals without diabetes, respectively (P<0.05). Greater CP volume was significantly associated with larger total and periventricular WMH volumes and moderate to severe EPVS in basal ganglia (P<0.05) but not with deep WMHs, EPVS in centrum semiovale, lacunes, or cerebral microbleeds. In the diffusion tensor imaging subsample, enlarged CP was significantly associated with higher peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity and free water of periventricular and deep white matter (P<0.05).

Conclusions: An enlarged CP is associated with larger global and periventricular WMH volume and higher likelihoods of EPVS in basal ganglia and impaired white matter integrity, suggesting that an enlarged CP may represent a precursor of cerebral small vessel disease.