{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,13]],"date-time":"2026-09-13T01:43:32Z","timestamp":1789263812833,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,6]],"date-time":"2025-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1754438400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"\u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, Romania"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Vascular dysfunction is increasingly recognized as a shared contributor to both cognitive impairment and late-life depression (LLD). However, the combined diagnostic value of cerebral hemodynamics, neuroimaging markers, and neuropsychological outcomes remains underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the associations be-tween transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound parameters, cognitive performance, and depressive symptoms in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and LLD. Importantly, we evaluated the integrative value of TCD-derived indices alongside MRI-confirmed white matter lesions (WMLs) and standardized neurocognitive and affective assessments. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 96 older adults were enrolled including 78 cognitively unimpaired individuals and 18 with MCI. All participants underwent structured clinical, neuropsychological, and imaging evaluations including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), MRI-based Fazekas scoring of WMLs, and TCD ultrasonography of the middle cerebral artery. Hemodynamic variables included mean blood flow velocity (MBFV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), pulsatility index (PI), and resistive index (RI). Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to identify independent predictors of MCI. Results: Participants with MCI showed significantly lower MBFV and EDV, and higher PI and RI (p &lt; 0.05 for all) compared with cognitively unimpaired participants. In multivariate analysis, lower MBFV (OR = 0.64, p = 0.02) and EDV (OR = 0.70, p = 0.03), and higher PI (OR = 3.2, p &lt; 0.01) and RI (OR = 1.9, p &lt; 0.01) remained independently associated with MCI. ROC analysis revealed excellent discriminative performance for RI (AUC = 0.919) and MBFV (AUC = 0.879). Furthermore, PI correlated positively with depressive symptom severity, while RI was inversely related to the GDS-15 scores. Conclusions: Our findings underscore the diagnostic utility of TCD-derived hemodynamic parameters\u2014particularly RI and MBFV\u2014in identifying early vascular contributions to cognitive and affective dysfunction in older adults. The integration of TCD with MRI-confirmed WML assessment and standardized cognitive\/mood measures represents a novel and clinically practical multi-modal approach for neurovascular profiling in aging populations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life15081246","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,6]],"date-time":"2025-08-06T10:13:51Z","timestamp":1754475231000},"page":"1246","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Cerebral Hemodynamics as a Diagnostic Bridge Between Mild Cognitive Impairment and Late-Life Depression: A Multimodal Approach Using Transcranial Doppler and MRI"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Sergiu-Florin","family":"Arnautu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Cognitive Research in Neuropsychiatric Pathology (NeuroPsy-Cog), Department of Neuro-Sciences, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, E. Murgu Sq., No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine I, Faculty of Medicine, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2nd Eftimie Murgu Square, 340001 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9959-5718","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diana-Aurora","family":"Arnautu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine I, Faculty of Medicine, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2nd Eftimie Murgu Square, 340001 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Cardiology Clinics, Timisoara Clinical Municipal Emergency Hospital, Bd. Revolutiei din 1989, No. 12, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Minodora","family":"Andor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine I, Faculty of Medicine, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2nd Eftimie Murgu Square, 340001 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Cardiology Clinics, Timisoara Clinical Municipal Emergency Hospital, Bd. Revolutiei din 1989, No. 12, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cristina","family":"Vacarescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2nd Eftimie Murgu Sq., 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Timisoara, 13A Gheorghe Adam Street, 300310 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-7378-7787","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dragos","family":"Cozma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2nd Eftimie Murgu Sq., 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Timisoara, 13A Gheorghe Adam Street, 300310 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brenda-Cristina","family":"Bernad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Center for Neuropsychology and Behavioral Medicine, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Catalin","family":"Juratu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Radiology, County Clinical Emergency Hospital, 156 L. Rebreanu Ave., 300736 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adrian","family":"Tutelca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, County Clinical Emergency Hospital, 156 L. Rebreanu Ave., 300736 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7827-818X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catalin-Dragos","family":"Jianu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Cognitive Research in Neuropsychiatric Pathology (NeuroPsy-Cog), Department of Neuro-Sciences, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, E. Murgu Sq., No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Neurology Clinics II, County Clinical Emergency Hospital, 156 L. Rebreanu Ave., 300736 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"323","DOI":"10.1038\/nrneurol.2011.60","article-title":"Depression and risk of developing dementia","volume":"7","author":"Byers","year":"2011","journal-title":"Nat. Rev. Neurol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"530","DOI":"10.1001\/archpsyc.63.5.530","article-title":"Depression and risk for Alzheimer disease: Systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression analysis","volume":"63","author":"Ownby","year":"2006","journal-title":"Arch. Gen. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1178","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1532-5415.2003.51373.x","article-title":"Vascular disease, depression, and dementia","volume":"51","author":"Alexopoulos","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Am. Geriatr. 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