RISK FACTORS FOR VASCULAR DISEASE AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION

本研究的目的是确定是否有风险因素， 脑血管疾病与认知功能障碍有关， 234例临床无卒中老年受试者队列。 的影响 高血压、糖尿病、心脏病和血脂升高 水平将与反应时间任务以及标准 神经心理学测试 血液分析将用于确定风险 将进行因子暴露和磁共振成像研究 从整个队列中随机选择75名受试者， 这些人中是否有人经历过“沉默的”大脑 梗塞 具体而言，本研究将试图确定：（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相关;（2）是否 “无症状”脑损伤的存在与认知功能相关， 功能障碍或下降;（3）是否高度敏感，但文化公平， 评估技术可以开发用于调查的 这些风险因素的影响。 单变量和 多元分析技术将用于解决这些问题 问题. 这项研究的结果可能有助于早期识别 老年人的认知功能障碍，这可能是 严重的脑血管疾病，通过使用评估 技术更适合于检查个人最大 由于风险因素的频率较高， 暴露，那些老年人，教育程度低，非白人。 找到一个 危险因素与认知功能之间的显著关系将 对“正常”的医疗管理有重要意义 老年人 干预不仅有利于减少 临床脑或心血管疾病的发病率，但可能 也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.