Research Of Relationship Between Carotid Atherosclerosis And Cognitive Impairment

Objective To investigate the relationship between Carotid Atherosclerosis(CAS) and cognitive impairment and the impacts of carotid atherosclerosis of the patients in different extents on cognitive function, Comparing different degrees of carotid atherosclerotic lesions in different cognitive domains.Methods From October 2013 to October 2014, we recruited eighty-six individuals with carotid atherosclerosis in TIA patients(34 cases with the left CAS,27 cases with the right CAS,and 25 cases with the bilateral CAS) and fifty-two gender-matched healthy subjects from the outpatients and inpatients of the Department of Neurology of the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University. We collected the information including age, sex, weight, family history, past history, blood glucose, blood pressure, blood grease, electrocardiogram (ECG) and the findings of carotid artery ultrasound. According to carotid artery ultrasound, eighty-six patients in CAS group were classified into three subgroups (mild, moderate, severe) depending on the severity. All participants were tested by using the Mini-Mental state Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Analyzed the impacts of different extents of carotid atherosclerosis on cognitive function.Results 1.CAS group MMSE and MoCA scores were lower than the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05); 2.The cognitive function scores decreased with the severity of CAS, there was a negative correlation between them(r=-0.779,-0.815, P<0.05); 3.MoCA was more valuable in predicting cognitive impairment than MMSE in patients with carotid atherosclerosis, the area under the ROC curve area (0.854> 0.767); 4. Compared with control group, CAS groups had significantly lower scores in visual spatial, executive function, attention, delayed memory ability (P<0.05), the mild CAS patients had no significant changes in naming and language function, the damage of cognitive function in moderate CAS patients was mainly reflected in the visual spatial and execution function, attention and memory areas (P <0.05), nearly all of the cognitive components were affected in severe CAS patients except the function of abstractions (P<0.05).Conclusions Carotid atherosclerosis may lead to cognitive impairment. The more serious of carotid atherosclerosis, the more significant decline in cognitive function. Varying degrees of carotid atherosclerosis may cause damage in different cognitive domains.