RISK FACTORS FOR VASCULAR DISEASE AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION

这项研究的目的是确定危险因素是否对 脑血管疾病与认知功能障碍有关 234名临床上无中风的老年受试者的队列。的影响 高血压、糖尿病、心脏病和高血脂 水平将通过反应时间任务和标准进行调查 神经心理测试。血液分析将被用来确定风险 将进行因子暴露和磁共振成像研究 从全部队列中随机选择75名受试者以确定 这些人中有没有人经历过“沉默的”大脑 脑梗塞。具体地说，这项研究将试图确定：(1) 暴露于脑血管疾病的特定危险因素是否 与认知功能障碍或衰退有关；(2) “无症状”脑部病变的存在与认知能力有关 功能障碍或衰退；(3)是否高度敏感，但文化公平， 评估技术可以被开发用于调查 这些风险因素的微妙影响。单变量和单变量的组合 我们将使用多变量分析技术来解决这些问题 问题。 这项研究的结果具有早期识别的潜力。 老年人的认知功能障碍，这可能是 重大脑血管疾病，通过使用评估 最适合个人检查的技术 由于风险因素频率较高而导致这种功能障碍的风险 暴露，那些上了年纪、受教育程度低和非白人的人。查找一个 危险因素与认知功能之间的显著关系 对“正常”的医疗管理有重要意义 上了年纪的人。干预可能不仅有益于减少 临床脑部或心血管疾病的发病率，但可能 还可以防止某些人的认知能力下降。

The objective of this study is to determine whether risk factors for cerebrovascular disease are associated with cognitive dysfunction in a cohort of 234 clinically stroke-free elderly subjects. The effects of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiac disease, and elevated lipid levels will be investigated with reaction time tasks as well as standard neuropsychological testing. Blood assays will be used to define risk factor exposure and Magnetic Resonance Imaging studies will be performed on 75 subjects randomly selected from the full cohort to determine whether any of these individuals have experienced "silent" cerebral infarctions. Specifically, this study will attempt to determine: (1) whether exposure to specific risk factors for cerebrovascular disease is associated with cognitive dysfunction or decline; (2) whether the presence of "silent" cerebral lesions is associated with cognitive dysfunction or decline; (3) whether a highly sensitive, yet culture-fair, assessment technique can be developed for use in the investigation of the subtle effects of these risk factors. A combination of univariate and multivariate analytic techniques will be used to address each of these issues. The results of this study hold the potential for early recognition of cognitive dysfunction in the elderly, which may be the first sign of significant cerebrovascular disease, through the use of assessment techniques better suited to the examination of individuals at greatest risk of such dysfunction due to a higher frequency of risk factor exposure, those who are elderly, under-educated, and nonwhite. Finding a significant relationship between risk factors and cognitive function will have significant implications for the medical management of "normal" aging individuals. Intervention may be beneficial not only in reducing the incidence of clinical cerebral or cardiovascular disease, but may also prevent cognitive decline in certain individuals.