How white matter hyperintensities impacts Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia across underrepresented Latin American samples

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are frequently observed on MRI scans of older people. Usually interpreted as a sign of cerebrovascular disease (CVD), they are also associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. While WMH and CVD are highly prevalent in Alzheimer's disease (AD), this has been less studied in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), letting alone their study in underrepresented populations with increased CVD. Here, we investigated WMH in AD and bvFTD patients in Latin America (Argentina, Chile and Colombia), a region with high prevalence of CVD. We analyzed total volume and regional distribution of WMH and its association with cognitive impairment and brain lacunes, a marker of CVD.