Relationship between vascular stenosis and cognition in leukoaraiosis patients

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the degree of vascular stenosis and cognition in leukoaraiosis patients. METHODS: A total of 101 leukoaraiosis patients from the Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University between September 2013 and June 2014, divided into two groups:patients with cognitive impairment (SVCI) (n = 54) , and those without cognitive impairment (NC) (n = 47) . All patients were enrolled and examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) or computed tomography angiography (CTA). The cognitive assessments were made by MMSE (mini-mental state examination), CAMCOG-C (Cambridge cognitive examination-Chinese version) and CDR (clinical dementia rating). The severity of leukoaraiosis and vascular stenosis was graded by MRI and MRA/CTA scans. RESULTS: The degree of vascular stenosis group and the severity of LA in SVCI were significantly higher than NC (2.0 ± 0.8 vs1.1 ± 0.6, 2.6 ± 1.0 vs 2.0 ± 1.0; P = 0.020, P = 0.003). As white matter level aggravated, cognitive function decreased and vascular stenosis deteriorated accordingly, and the score of MMSE (25 ± 4, 24 ± 6, 22 ± 4) and CAMCOG-C (83 ± 14, 80 ± 14, 73 ± 14) has a statistical significance (P = 0.012, P = 0.014). At the same time, the negative correlation was found in LA patients between cognitive function and severity of LA (r = -0.317, P = 0.001) as well as degree of vascular stenosis (r = -0.284, P = 0.004). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed that, after controlling for various factors, both severity of LA (OR = 2.025, 95% CI 1.307-3.954) and the degree of vascular stenosis (OR = 1.812, 95% CI 1.129-2.908) were risk factors for cognitive impairment in leukoaraiosis patients. CONCLUSION: Cognition of leukoaraiosis patients is correlated with both severity of leukoaraiosis and vascular stenosis.