It is estimated that 5 per cent of Canadian adults aged 65-and-older have vascular cognitive impairment (Rockwood et al.
Thinking speed showed the greatest impairment, followed by immediate and delayed memory, while working memory and visuo-spatial abilities were the least affected. The other 1,750 were healthy controls.Ĭompared to healthy subjects, the patients with vascular cognitive impairment showed significant deficits in all eight cognitive domains examined, including executive functioning, thinking speed, general functioning, language, immediate memory, delayed memory, working memory and visuo-spatial construction. Of this total group of adults, 794 had a clinical diagnosis of cognitive impairment due to a vascular cause (white matter disease) but not serious enough to compromise their ability to function in their daily lives (no dementia).
Konstantine Zakzanis, reviewed the cognitive performance scores of 2,544 individuals across twenty seven published studies. Vasquez and University of Toronto Scarborough research colleague, Dr. The disease increases a person's risk of having a stroke, or even developing a full-blown dementia such as vascular dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The disease hardens the tiny arteries, gradually restricting nutrients to white matter - the connections between brain regions involved in executive abilities such as planning, organizing, problem-solving, and attention. Unlike Alzheimer's disease which shrinks the hippocampus causing progressive memory loss, white matter disease is a more diffuse mind-robbing condition that targets small blood vessels deep within the brain's white matter. "Our findings add to a growing body of evidence that white matter disease is a discreet saboteur in the brain, impacting a large number of cognitive functions." Vasquez, a PhD candidate with Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute and the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. "A central characteristic of white matter disease is impairment of executive functions and speed of thinking, but there's long been suspicion in the scientific and clinical communities that the disease impairs a broader range of cognitive areas," said the study's lead author, Brandon P. Led by the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto, in collaboration with the University of Toronto Scarborough, the findings are published online today in the British Journal of Neuropsychology, ahead of print publication.
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