Cognitive Profile and its Association with Neuroimaging Markers of Non-Demented Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Patients in a Stroke Unit.
BACKGROUND
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is increasingly recognized as a cause of cognitive impairment in the elderly, but the cognitive profile in patients with the disease has not been well characterized.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize the neuropsychological profile of CAA patients without dementia and to determine the association between cognitive performance in different domains and neuroimaging lesions characteristic of CAA.


METHODS
Fifty-eight non-demented CAA patients were compared to 138 cognitively normal subjects using a standard neuropsychological test battery. Total brain volume (TBV), white matter hyperintensities, number of lobar cerebral microbleeds, hippocampal volume, and cortical superficial siderosis in all CAA patients were assessed. The association between these neuroimaging markers and neuropsychological performance in different cognitive domains in the CAA group were analyzed.


RESULTS
Patients with CAA had significantly worse performance on all individual neuropsychological domains tested, when compared to the cognitive normal group. The cognitive decline of CAA patients was most noticeable in tests for processing speed with a Z score of -1.92±1.56 (mean±SD), then followed by executive function (-0.93±1.01), episodic memory (-0.87±1.29), semantic fluency (-0.73±1.06), and attention (-0.42±0.98). TBV of the CAA patients was correlated with processing speed (β= 0.335, p = 0.03) and executive function (β= 0.394, p = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Non-demented patients with CAA had cognitive deficits in multiple areas. Lower TBV was related to slower processing speed and worse executive function.
['Xiong|Li|L|', 'Davidsdottir|Sigurros|S|', 'Reijmer|Yael D|YD|', 'Shoamanesh|Ashkan|A|', 'Roongpiboonsopit|Duangnapa|D|', 'Thanprasertsuk|Sekh|S|', 'Martinez-Ramirez|Sergi|S|', 'Charidimou|Andreas|A|', 'Ayres|Alison M|AM|', 'Fotiadis|Panagiotis|P|', 'Gurol|Edip|E|', 'Blacker|Deborah L|DL|', 'Greenberg|Steven M|SM|', 'Viswanathan|Anand|A|']
D000368:Aged D001284:Atrophy D001921:Brain D016657:Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy D003071:Cognition D003072:Cognition Disorders D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008137:Longitudinal Studies D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging D008297:Male D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D020521:Stroke
cerebral amyloid angiopathy cognitive impairment white matter hyperintensities cerebral microbleeds Brain atrophy clinical neuropsychology hippocampal atrophy intracranial hemorrhage