Intracranial Cerebrovascular Characteristics Associated With Long-Term Endurance Exercise and Age-Related Changes: A 4D Flow MRI Study.

Authors

Mingsong Tang, Zhuo Wang, Dan Yang, Jinrui Liu, Fei Jia, Jingqi Jiang, Jiahao Yan, Guangyao Liu, Yanli Jiang, Songhong Yue, Yurong Ma, Yuhui Xiong, Jing Zhang

Published in

Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI. Aug 30, 2026. Epub Aug 30, 2026.

Abstract

Cerebrovascular aging is characterized by progressive reductions in cerebral blood flow and vascular compliance. Although long-term endurance exercise has been associated with improved brain health, its relationship with cerebrovascular aging remains incompletely understood.
To assess associations between long-term endurance exercise and intracranial arterial structural and hemodynamic characteristics, and to determine whether these associations differ with age.
Prospective cross-sectional study.
Fifty-one endurance runners (≥ 5 h/week endurance exercise for ≥ 3 years) and 51 matched sedentary controls.
Intracranial four-dimensional velocity-encoded gradient echo sequence (4D Flow MRI) at 3.0 T.
Luminal cross-sectional area, blood flow, pulsatility index (PI), and resistive index (RI) were quantified in the bilateral internal carotid arteries and basilar artery. Total cerebral blood flow (TCBF) was calculated from these vessels.
Univariable analysis was used to compare groups. Multivariable linear regression and linear mixed-effects models were used to assess associations of age and long-term endurance exercise with cerebrovascular structural and hemodynamic parameters, with additional testing for age-by-exercise interactions. A p value < 0.05 was considered significant.
Endurance runners had significantly higher TCBF than sedentary controls (586.2 ± 85.7 vs. 540.7 ± 85.6 mL/min). Older age was independently associated with lower cerebral blood flow (β = -2.636 mL/min per year) and higher PI (β = 0.003 per year), whereas long-term endurance exercise was independently associated with larger luminal cross-sectional area (β = 1.119 mm²) and higher TCBF (β = 52.929 mL/min) and higher vessel-level blood flow (β = 19.313 mL/min). In addition, endurance exercise was associated with higher RI (β = 0.054) but not PI (β = 0.026). No significant age-by-exercise interactions were observed.
Long-term endurance exercise was associated with larger intracranial arterial luminal dimensions and higher cerebral blood flow, without significant differences in age-related hemodynamic changes between groups.
2.

PMID:
42669028
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 30 Aug 2026.

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