Past Issues

Objective: Cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes,
and hyperlipidemia, are associated with cognitive impairment and risk of dementia
in the elderly. But CV risk factors rarely exist alone in older adults and probably
exert additive or synergistic effect on health outcomes. In this study, we intended
to investigate the associations between aggregate CV risk and cognitions in a
group of community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Five hundred and three participants (mean age: 65.7 years) from the Baltimore Experience Corps® Trial, received cognitive tests for information processing speed, memory, and executive
function. We examined whether aggregate CV risk at baseline as measured by the
Framingham general cardiovascular risk profile was associated with cognitions.
Results: Higher aggregate CV risk was significantly associated with baseline
poorer information-processing speed (β = -0.35, 95% confidence interval = -0.68
- -0.02, p < 0.05) and baseline neutral condition of the executive function (β =
-0.16, 95% confidence interval = -0.32 - -0.00, p < 0.05) after adjusting factors for
age, sex, education, socioeconomic status, depression and physical activity. Conclusion: Higher CV risk was associated with slower processing speed and lower
neutral condition of the executive function in a group of cognitively normal adults
without prevalent major CV events.