An MRI study on the functional connectivity changes in presbycusis patients and their cognitive orrelates

LIU Yuxi; WANG Jing; MA Wen; REN Fuxin; LI Ning; GAO Fei

doi:10.20258/j.cnki.1006-9011.2025.03.005

Abstract：Objective To explore the relationship between changes in functional connectivity(FC)strength with Heschl's gyrus(HG)as the seed point and cognitive impairment in presbycusis(PC).Methods 109 PC and 63 healthy controls(HC)were included.Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI)was used to obtain brain FC with bilateral HG as the seed point for both the PC and HC groups.Cognitive function assessments were conducted for all participants.The cognitive function indicators(MOCA,AVLT,SDMT,Stroop,TMT-A)and auditory-related indicators(PTA,SRT)were compared be-tween the two groups,and the correlation between the FC strength of the whole brain,cognitive function indicators,and hearing was analyzed in PC patients.Results 14 clusters of FC decreases were identified in the PC group(PFDR<0.01,cluster size>20 voxels),including the left inferior temporal gyrus,bilateral temporal poles,the left middle temporal gyrus,bilateral insula,bi-lateral superior temporal gyrus,bilateral putamen,bilateral thalamus,and bilateral anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyri.The FC strength between the right HG and the core nodes of the salience network(left insula,anterior cingulate and paracingu-late gyri,right thalamus)and left superior temporal pole were positively correlated with the scores of the AVLT(r=0.3835,0.5811,0.3508,0.4259,P<0.05).The FC strength between the right HG and the left insula was negatively correlated with the time used in TMT-A(r=-0.3885,P<0.01).Conclusion The alterations in FC strength between the right HG and core nodes of SN in PC are associated with cognitive impairment.