Association between white-matter lesion volume and heart-rate variability: A comparison of T1w, T1w+T2w and T1w+FLAIR-based segmentations using FreeSurfer SAMSEG

Lower heart-rate variability is linked to higher white-matter lesion volume in healthy adults from the LEMON dataset, with low-frequency variability interacting with age-related lesion burden.

• Why it matters: The study addresses how cardiovascular function relates to cerebral small-vessel disease, where white-matter lesions are tied to later neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.
• What they did: Using FreeSurfer SAMSEG, white-matter lesion volumes were segmented from 3-Tesla T1w+FLAIR, T1w+T2w, or T1w alone, and associations with heart-rate variability were tested in LEMON healthy adults.
• The result: After adjusting for age’s effect on lesion volume, low-frequency heart-rate variability specifically interacted with age-related lesion volume, and the lesion–heart-rate variability relationship held across T1w+FLAIR, T1w+T2w, and T1w-based estimates.

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