High Risk of Mild Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are showing an increasing incidence in the older adults and are frequently associated with higher risk of neurological complications in this population. Research on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in elderly patients with CVD is extremely scarce. The aims of this research were to: (a) examine the frequency of MCI in CVD patients (aged 65 years or older) and explore their clinical and cognitive characteristics compared to healthy controls (HC); (b) investigate which components of the cognitive performance and clinical characteristics are better predictors of MCI. The results showed that 41.2% of the CVD patients who were diagnosed with MCI. CVD-MCI showed an altered performance in all cognitive domains, with more relevance of visuospatial functions, language and verbal memory. Moreover, visuospatial functions and memory were significant predictors of MCI diagnosis.