Pharmacological treatment of increased vascular risk and cognitive performance in middle-aged and old persons: six-year observational longitudinal study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lowering vascular risk is associated with a decrease in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and dementia. However, it is still unknown whether lowering of vascular risk with pharmacological treatment preserves cognitive performance in general. Therefore, we compared the change in cognitive performance in persons with and without treatment of vascular risk factors.

Methods

In this longitudinal observational study, 256 persons (mean age, 58?years) were treated for increased vascular risk during a mean follow-up period of 5.5?years (treatment group), whereas 1678 persons (mean age, 50?years) did not receive treatment (control group). Cognitive performance was three times measured during follow-up using the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT) and Visual Association Test (VAT), and calculated as the average of standardized RFFT and VAT score per participant. Because treatment allocation was nonrandomized, additional analyses were performed in demographic and vascular risk-matched samples and adjusted for propensity scores.

Results

In the treatment group, mean (SD) cognitive performance changed from -?0.30 (0.80) to -?0.23 (0.80) to 0.02 (0.87), and in control group, from 0.08 (0.77) to 0.24 (0.79) to 0.49 (0.74) at the first, second and third measurement, respectively (p_trend ConclusionChange in cognitive performance during follow-up was similar in treated and untreated persons. This suggests that lowering vascular risk preserves cognitive performance.

SUBMITTER: van Eersel MEA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7291556 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature