Screening for mild cognitive impairment in patients with cardiovascular risk factors

Abstract

AimCardiovascular risk factors are also risk factors for cognitive impairment. They have cumulative effect in target organ damage. The precise correlation between cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive impairment, as well as assessing the extent to which they may affect cognitive functioning, is difficult to ascertain in everyday clinical practice. Quick, specific, and sensitive neuropsychological tests may be useful in screening for, and the prophylaxis of, target organ damage in hypertensive patients.MethodsWe gathered full anamnesis, performed physical examination, laboratory screening and echocardiography. These variables were observed at office and home for all patients, For half of the patients, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and neuropsychological testing using Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale, and the 4-instrumental activities of daily living scale were undertaken.ResultsFor a period of 2 years, 931 patients were included after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The mean age was 65.90±10.00 years. Two hundred and sixty three patients (85 [32.32%] males and 178 [67.68%] females) were reevaluated after a mean follow-up period of 12 months (6–20 months). The mean results of MoCA and MMSE were significantly lower (p<0.05) in the group of patients with poorly controlled blood pressure and cardiovascular risk factors. There was mild to intermediate negative correlation between Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) and the neuropsychological tests’ results.ConclusionCardiovascular risk factors play an important role for the development of cognitive impairment in the eastern European population because of their high frequency and interaction. The use of easily applicable neuropsychological tests in everyday clinical practice of specialties other than neurology may help in stratifying the risk for development and progression of mild cognitive impairment in this high-risk group.

Risk Prediction Performance of the Thai Cardiovascular Risk Score for Mild Cognitive Impairment in Adults with Metabolic Risk Factors in Thailand

“…The cardiovascular risk profile was linked to a decline in cognitive function and could be seen at as early as 35 years of age [ 32 ]. Another study found that Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation was associated with cognitive decline from the neuropsychological tests in individuals with arterial hypertension [ 60 ]. The use of cardiovascular risk screening could potentially provide the ability to detect MCI.…”

Psychomotor speed as a predictor of functional status in older chronic heart failure (CHF) patients attending cardiac rehabilitation

“…An accurate psychological and neuropsychological screening is time saving and it requires a brief specific training. This kind of screening could play a pivotal role as it allows to implement an effective multicomponent and tailored rehabilitative intervention [18,29,40,41].…”

Mortality rate of high cardiovascular risk patients with mild cognitive impairment

“…Here we describe the follow-up results for the difference of all-cause mortality of the initially studied population. Results from the first phase have already been published 28 – 30 .…”