Subclinical vascular damage is associated with cognitive decline in middle-to-old age community subjects with high vascular risks

Due to the insidious development of vascular degeneration, assessing subclinical vascular changes in people at high risks may aid early detection and intervention. We explored the relationship between the subclinical vascular function changes and vascular risks, vascular imaging markers, and cognition in a middle-to-old age community cohort. We found that larger vascular contractility in the intracranial arteries was related to younger age, less lacune, and better cognition. Participants with diabetes had a longer blood transit time from the ICAs to the capillary. These results suggested that subclinical vascular imaging markers were associated with brain parenchymal damage and cognitive decline.