Baseline predictors of cognitive decline in patients with cerebral small vessel disease

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a common cause of cognitive impairment and vascular dementia.

We aimed to investigate predictors of cognitive decline in patients with SVD who initially presented with first-ever small subcortical stroke of lacunar type but had normal cognitive status.

A total of 294 patients with SVD were evaluated 3-5 years after initial presentation. We analyzed baseline demographic data, vascular risk factors, functional status expressed as score on modified Rankin Scale, total number of lacunar infarcts, and severity of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) on magnetic resonance imaging with Age-Related White Matter Changes scale total score (tARWMC) and Fazekas scale periventricular and deep subcortical scores.

At follow-up, vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) on any type was detected in 188 (63.9%) of SVD patients, with 65 (22.1%) meeting criteria for vascular dementia and 123 (41.8%) presenting with cognitive impairment not dementia. Patients with VCI were older (64.4 ± 10.3 in VCI versus 58.6 ± 10.5 years in non-VCI; p < 0.0001) at the time of initial clinical presentation and more frequently male (57.9% VCI versus 46.2% non-VCI; p = 0.052). No difference was noted in frequency of vascular risk factors in VCI versus non-VCI cases. Multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted by age and gender identified overall severity of WMH (tARWMC HR 1.42, 95% CI 1.01-2.00; p0.043) and total number of lacunar infarcts (HR 3.06, 95% CI 1.71-5.50, p < 0.001) as independent predictors of cognitive decline.

In patients with SVD, independent predictors of VCI were baseline severity of WMH and total number of lacunar infarcts.