Cardiac imaging allows physicians to view the structure and function of the heart to detect various heart abnormalities, ranging from inefficiencies in contraction, regulation of volumetric input and output of blood, deficits in valve function and structure, accumulation of plaque in arteries, and more. Commonly used cardiovascular imaging techniques include x-ray, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), echocardiogram, and positron emission tomography (PET)/single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). More recently, even more tools are at our disposal for investigating the heart’s physiology, performance, structure, and function due to technological advancements. This review study summarizes cardiac imaging techniques with a particular interest in MRI and CT, noting each tool’s origin, benefits, downfalls, clinical application, and advancement of cardiac imaging in the near future.

Objectives: To investigate how balance and grip strength predicts the probability of cognitive function impairment (i.e., executive function: mild and mild-to-moderate impairment, and delayed recall) over eight years in community-dwelling older adults in the US, controlling for sex and race/ethnicity. Methods: The National Health and Aging Trends Study dataset (2011 – 2018) was employed. Dependent variables included the Clock Drawing Test (Executive Function) and Delayed Word Recall Test. Longitudinal ordered logistic regression examined the association between cognitive function and predictors (i.e., balance and grip strength) over eight waves (n=9800, 1,225 per wave). Results: Those who could complete side-by-side standing and semi-tandem tasks were 33% and 38% less likely to have mild or mild-to-moderate executive function impairment, respectively, relative to those who could not complete these tests. One score decrease in grip strength increased the executive function impairment risk by 13% (Odds Ratio: 0.87, CI: 0.79-0.95). Those who completed the side-by-side tasks were 35% (Odds Ratio: 0.65, CI: 0.44-0.95) less likely to experience delayed recall impairments than those who could not complete this test. With one score decrease in grip strength, the risk of delayed recall impairment was increased by 11% (OR: 0.89, CI: 0.80-1.00). Conclusions: A combination of these two simple tests (i.e., semi-tandem stance and grip strength) can screen for cognitive impairment among community-dwelling older adults to identify people with mild and mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment in clinical settings.

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