Background: Postural instability and brain white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are both noted markers of normal aging and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Here, we questioned what variables contribute to sway path/WMH relations in individuals with AUD and healthy control participants.
Method: The data comprised 404 balance platform sessions, yielding sway path length and MRI acquired cross-sectionally or longitudinally, in 102 control and 158 AUD participants, ages 25-80 years. Balance sessions were typically conducted on the same day as MRI FLAIR acquisitions, permitting WMH volume quantification. Factors considered in multiple regression analyses as potential contributors to relations between WMH volumes and postural instability were age, sex, socioeconomic status, education, pedal 2-point discrimination, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, depressive symptoms, total alcohol consumed in the past year, and race.
Results: Initial analysis identified diagnosis, age, sex, and race as significant contributors to observed sway path/WMH relations. Inclusion of these factors as predictors in multiple regression analysis substantially attenuated the sway/WMH relations in both AUD and healthy control groups. Women, irrespective of diagnosis or race, had shorter sway paths than men. Black participants, irrespective of diagnosis or sex, had shorter sway paths than non-Black participants despite having modestly larger WMH volumes than non-Black participants, possibly a reflection of the younger age of the Black sample.
Discussion: Longer sway paths were related to larger WMH volumes in healthy men and women, with and without AUD. Critically, however, age nearly fully accounted for these relations.
Keywords: age; alcohol use disorder; ataxia; balance; hyperintensity; white matter.
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