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Vascular Risk Factors and Cognitive Functions in Nondemented Elderly Individuals

École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada, Sandra.wiederkehrl{at}yahoo.fr

Danielle Laurin, PhD

Centre of Excellence on Aging Research Unit and Faculty of Pharmacy, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

Martine Simard, PhD

Ecole de Psychologie, Université Laval, and Centre de Recherche Université Laval-Robert Giffard, Québec, Canada

René Verreault, MD, PhD

Centre of Excellence on Aging Research Unit and Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada

Joan Lindsay, PhD

Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Background: The brain-at-risk stage is the earliest phase of the vascular cognitive impairment continuum and includes individuals with vascular risk factors (VRF). However, there is still no clear definition of this concept. The aim of the study is to characterize the neuropsychological profile of elderly individuals by 3 levels of VRF. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging baseline data; 577 nondemented elderly individuals 65 years old were divided into 3 groups: reference group (0 VRF; n = 82); intermediate brain-at-risk group (1-2 VRF; n = 360); high brain-at-risk group (3 VRF; n = 135). A principal component analysis (PCA) and univariate/multivariate analyses of variance were performed to examine the relationships between the groups and various cognitive measures. Main findings: The PCA produced a 2-component solution (1) executive/psychomotor functions including measures of abstraction and (2) verbal memory. The high brain-at-risk group performed significantly worse than the reference group on the first component. Conclusions: Elderly individuals presenting with 3 VRF are more impaired on measures of executive functions/ processing speed than participants without any VRF.

Key Words: cerebrovascular disease • cognitive impairment • elderly

This version was published on September 1, 2009

Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, Vol. 22, No. 3, 196-206 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0891988709335797


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