OSCR

White matter hyperintensities, retinal vascular calibre and changes in age-related hearing loss.

Overview

Authors: David P Q Clark1, Cammie Tran1, Sultana Monira Hussain1,2, Catherine Robb1, Carlene Britt1, Robyn L Woods1, Paul A Yates3,4, Amy Brodtmann5, Mohamed Salah Khlif5, Geoffrey Donnan6, Gary Rance7, John J McNeil1
ORCID iDs: Robyn L Woods, Paul A Yates, John J McNeil
  1. School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
  2. Department of Medical Education, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
  3. Department of Geriatric Medicine/Aged Care Services, Continuing Care Department, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084, Australia
  4. Department of Medicine, Austin Health, the University of Melbourne, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084, Australia
  5. Department of Neuroscience Central Clinical School, Monash University The Alfred Centre,Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
  6. Melbourne Brain Centre, University of Melbourne, Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
  7. Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
Institutions: Monash University (Australia); The University of Melbourne (Australia); Austin Hospital (Australia); Austin Health (Australia); The Alfred Hospital (Australia); The Royal Melbourne Hospital (Australia)
Journal: Brain communications, volume 8, issue 2, article fcag133
Dates: received 31 March 2025; accepted 13 April 2026; published online 15 April 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1093/braincomms/fcag133 · PMID 42063522 · PMCID PMC13126660 · OpenAlex W7154479261
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request
Categories: structural MRI / diffusion (modality), human (organism), other condition (population), stroke (population), cognitive (subfield)
Methods: Statistics
Keywords: ageing, cerebral small vessel disease, retinal vascular calibre, age-related hearing loss, white matter hyperintensities
Topic: Vestibular and auditory disorders (Neurology, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Aging (U.S. National Institute on Aging) (334047, 1127060); Victorian Cancer Agency; Department of Health | National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (1086188); Monash Biomedical Imaging; National Health and Medical Research Council Leadership Fellow (IG1173690)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 33 references in the paper

Abstract

Cerebral small vessel disease may contribute to age-related hearing loss pathogenesis by reducing blood flow to the cochlea and/or areas of the brain important for hearing. Cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and retinal vascular calibre are both considered to be non-invasive markers of cerebral small vessel health. This study investigated the relationship between age-related hearing loss, retinal vascular calibre and WMHs in older adults using data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial, including participants who underwent hearing assessment, retinal photography and brain magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were free of evident cardiovascular disease at recruitment between 2010 and 2014. Retinal vascular calibre was measured using central retinal arteriolar and venular equivalents. Total brain WMH volumes were calculated using an automated lesion prediction algorithm and further segmented as deep WMH and periventricular WMH. Hearing acuity was assessed using pure tone audiometry and speech perception in background noise. A total of 308 participants (aged 70+) were included. In both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses no associations were found between baseline central retinal arteriolar equivalent, central retinal venular equivalent, total WMH, deep WMH or periventricular WMH in relation to changes in audiometric 0.5, 4 and 8 kHz thresholds or speech perception after adjusting for confounding factors. This study identified no relationship between retinal vascular calibre, WMH volumes and hearing function in healthy older adults. This suggests that microvascular changes in the eye and brain may occur independently of changes in auditory function in older individuals.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none (its code is available on request), so it has no map.

Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data availability

De-identified data are available upon request from the ASPREE Management System (https://ams.aspree.org/application/home.aspx). The analysis code supporting the findings of this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

D.P.Q.C, C.T. and J.J.M. had full access to all the data in the study and take full responsibility for the integrity of the data and accuracy of the data analysis.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 29 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 12 authors, 5 keywords, 5 funders, 31 references.

Cite

This paper

Clark, D. P. Q., Tran, C., Hussain, S. M., Robb, C., Britt, C., Woods, R. L., Yates, P. A., Brodtmann, A., Khlif, M. S., Donnan, G., Rance, G., & McNeil, J. J. (2026). White matter hyperintensities, retinal vascular calibre and changes in age-related hearing loss. Brain communications, 8(2), fcag133. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag133

BibTeX

@article{clark2026white,
author = {Clark, David P Q and Tran, Cammie and Hussain, Sultana Monira and Robb, Catherine and Britt, Carlene and Woods, Robyn L and Yates, Paul A and Brodtmann, Amy and Khlif, Mohamed Salah and Donnan, Geoffrey and Rance, Gary and McNeil, John J},
title = {{White matter hyperintensities, retinal vascular calibre and changes in age-related hearing loss}},
journal = {Brain communications},
year = {2026},
month = apr,
volume = {8},
number = {2},
pages = {fcag133},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
issn = {2632-1297},
doi = {10.1093/braincomms/fcag133},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag133},
pmid = {42063522},
pmcid = {PMC13126660}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Clark, David P Q
AU - Tran, Cammie
AU - Hussain, Sultana Monira
AU - Robb, Catherine
AU - Britt, Carlene
AU - Woods, Robyn L
AU - Yates, Paul A
AU - Brodtmann, Amy
AU - Khlif, Mohamed Salah
AU - Donnan, Geoffrey
AU - Rance, Gary
AU - McNeil, John J
TI - White matter hyperintensities, retinal vascular calibre and changes in age-related hearing loss
T2 - Brain communications
J2 - Brain Commun
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/04/15
VL - 8
IS - 2
SP - fcag133
SN - 2632-1297
PB - Oxford University Press
DO - 10.1093/braincomms/fcag133
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag133
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

{
"id": "10.1093/braincomms/fcag133",
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "White matter hyperintensities, retinal vascular calibre and changes in age-related hearing loss",
"container-title": "Brain communications",
"author": [
{
"family": "Clark",
"given": "David P Q"
},
{
"family": "Tran",
"given": "Cammie"
},
{
"family": "Hussain",
"given": "Sultana Monira"
},
{
"family": "Robb",
"given": "Catherine"
},
{
"family": "Britt",
"given": "Carlene"
},
{
"family": "Woods",
"given": "Robyn L"
},
{
"family": "Yates",
"given": "Paul A"
},
{
"family": "Brodtmann",
"given": "Amy"
},
{
"family": "Khlif",
"given": "Mohamed Salah"
},
{
"family": "Donnan",
"given": "Geoffrey"
},
{
"family": "Rance",
"given": "Gary"
},
{
"family": "McNeil",
"given": "John J"
}
],
"container-title-short": "Brain Commun",
"volume": "8",
"issue": "2",
"page": "fcag133",
"DOI": "10.1093/braincomms/fcag133",
"PMID": "42063522",
"PMCID": "PMC13126660",
"ISSN": "2632-1297",
"publisher": "Oxford University Press",
"URL": "https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag133",
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
4,
15
]
]
}
}

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1186/s13024-026-00942-4 [code]
Regional diffusion imaging measures to disentangle SVD-related hypertensive arteriopathy versus cerebral amyloid angiopathy.
Journal: Molecular neurodegeneration
In common: stroke, structural MRI / diffusion, cognitive, 1 other category, 1 reference
[2] doi:10.1038/s43856-026-01670-y
Region-specific vulnerability to vascular risk factors and modifiable protective influences on white matter hyperintensities.
Journal: Communications medicine
In common: stroke, structural MRI / diffusion, 1 reference
[3] doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000218472 [code]
Lesion-Level Subtypes of White Matter Hyperintensity Evolution Beyond Spatial Location.
Journal: Neurology
In common: stroke, structural MRI / diffusion, 1 reference
[4] doi:10.1186/s12938-026-01555-0 [code]
Incorporating normal periventricular changes for enhanced pathological white matter hyperintensity segmentation: on multiclass deep learning approaches.
Journal: Biomedical engineering online
In common: stroke, structural MRI / diffusion, 1 reference
[5] doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000218164 [code]
Race and Ethnicity, Hypertension, and Neuroimaging Markers of Brain Aging: A Causal Mediation Analysis in the HABS-HD Study.
Journal: Neurology
In common: structural MRI / diffusion, other condition, 1 reference
[6] doi:10.1093/aje/kwag135 [code]
Depressive symptoms and neuroimaging markers of brain aging in an ethno-racially diverse sample: a Bayesian analysis.
Journal: American journal of epidemiology
In common: structural MRI / diffusion, 1 reference
[7] doi:10.3389/fnut.2026.1837406 [code]
MIND diet moderates the associations between cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative disease burden and cognition.
Journal: Frontiers in nutrition
In common: stroke, structural MRI / diffusion, cognitive, 1 other category
[8] doi:10.1038/s41597-026-07184-5 [code]
A Multiple Sclerosis MRI Dataset with Tri-Mask Annotations for Lesion Segmentation.
Journal: Scientific data
In common: structural MRI / diffusion, 1 reference
[9] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74957-2 [code]
Joint trajectories of brain atrophy, white matter hyperintensities and cognition quantify brain maintenance.
Journal: Nature communications
In common: stroke, structural MRI / diffusion, cognitive
[10] doi:10.1186/s13195-026-02074-9
Metabolic parameter variability, brain structure, perfusion, and cognition: a population-based study.
Journal: Alzheimer's research & therapy
In common: stroke, structural MRI / diffusion, cognitive

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion, reproductions, activity

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.