Can Fluid-Filled Spaces in the Brain Help Us Predict Who Will Develop Dementia? People with enlarged fluid-filled spaces in the brain around small blood vessels may be more likely to develop dementia than people whose perivascular spaces are smaller, according to a new study published in Neurology®. Perivascular spaces are involved in clearing waste and toxins from the brain and may play a role in the brain changes associated with aging. The study, led by Dr Matt Paradise at UNSW Sydney’s Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), involved 400 people with an average age of 80. Participants took tests of thinking and memory skills at the beginning of the study and again four years later. Researchers evaluated participants for dementia at the beginning of the study and again eight years later. The participants also had MRI brain scans to check for enlarged perivascular spaces in two areas of the brain. The top quarter of the people with the largest number of enlarged perivascular spaces, or the severe cases, were compared to those with fewer or no enlarged spaces, or the mild or absent cases.