Cerebral white matter changes and their correlation with cognitive dysfunction and clinical indicators in patients with early coal workers' pneumoconiosis based on MR-diffusion spectrum imaging.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate alterations in brain structural networks in early-stage coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) using MR-diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) and explore their correlations with clinical indicators and cognitive functions.

Materials And Methods: A total of 40 early CWP patients and 27 healthy controls were included. Based on cognitive scale scores, CWP patients were divided into two groups: those with cognitive impairment (CWP-CI) and those without (CWP-nonCI). DSI scans were performed to construct brain structural networks, and graph theory was applied to compare topological properties among the three groups. Correlations between abnormal network properties, clinical indicators, and cognitive scores in the CWP-CI group were analyzed.

Results: Compared to the CWP-nonCI group, the CWP-CI group exhibited reduced functional connectivity in regions such as the right orbitofrontal middle gyrus, right medial superior frontal gyrus, right posterior cingulate gyrus, and right fusiform gyrus. Global efficiency (E) decreased, while shortest path length (Lp), small-world attribute (σ), and standardized clustering coefficient (γ) increased. In the right amygdala and left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, degree centrality (DC) and node efficiency (Ne) decreased, while node shortest path length (NLp) increased. Correlation analysis revealed that E was negatively correlated with working years (r = -0.561, P = 0.015), BC values in the right amygdala were positively correlated with MMSE scores (r = 0.503, P = 0.034), and NLp in the left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with FVC (r = -0.681, P = 0.002).

Conclusion: Early CWP patients exhibit disrupted brain structural networks, with network properties correlating with clinical indicators and cognitive scores. These findings suggest that structural network changes contribute to cognitive deficits in CWP patients and are associated with disease progression.