71 White matter hyperintensity shape and cognitive decline over 5 years 4 4.4.1.4 Secondary analysis In secondary analysis to test for WMH volume independency of the found associations of WMH shape and cognitive decline, we showed that these associations were for a small part WMH volume dependent. The results slightly attenuated, but stayed statistically significant in the memory domain (except for solidity) and the processing speed domain (supplementary table S.4.9.1). In the executive function domain all statistical significance was lost. Deep WMH eccentricity was found to be associated with cognitive decline in the memory domain, a finding that did not appear in the main results. 4.4.2 WMH volumes and cognitive decline In secondary analyses, total WMH volume (memory domain: -0.10 (-0.13—-0.07); p < 0.001; executive function domain: -0.05 (-0.08—-0.02); p < 0.001; processing speed domain: -0.08 (0.10—-0.05); p < 0.001), the volume of periventricular/confluent WMH (memory domain: -0.10 (-0.13—-0.07); p < 0.001; executive function domain: -0.05 (-0.07—-0.02); p < 0.003; processing speed domain: -0.08 (0.10—-0.05); p < 0.001), and the volume of deep WMH (memory domain: -0.04 (-0.07—-0.02); p = 0.002; executive function domain: -0.04 (-0.06—-0.01); p = 0.007; processing speed domain: -0.04 (-0.06—-0.01); p = 0.002) were significantly associated with cognitive decline in the memory, executive function and processing speed domain (table 4.3). 4.4.3 Sensitivity analysis To test the robustness of our results for a different method to analyse cognitive change, sensitivity analyses were performed. These results were quite comparable to our main results (supplementary table 4.9.2).
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