Cardiovascular Disease and Neurocognitive Function

Cardiovascular (CV) diseases confer substantial increase in risk for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Yet, outside the context of clinical stroke, the brain is an under-recognized target organ of a spectrum of CV diseases. Although it has long been known that CV risk factors and diseases contribute to the development of vascular dementia, we now know that similar risk is conferred for Alzheimer’s disease. Importantly, long before clinical manifestations of stroke or dementia are apparent, CV risk factors and diseases negatively impact the brain and neurocognitive function. We suggest that there is a continuum of neurocognitive and neurobiological impairment associated with increasingly severe manifestations of CV disease across the life span. Here we provide a broad overview of current knowledge pertaining to the relation of CV risk factors and diseases to dementia, neurocognitive function, and the brain.