Short Trends and Associated Factors of Cognitive Impairment in a Population at High Cardiovascular Risk

Background: It has been proposed that some risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are associated with and contribute to the development of all cause of dementia. Our aim was to examine the short trends and associated factors of cognitive impairment among a eastern Chinese population at high risk of CVD. Methods: We used a convenience sampling strategy to select 7 subdistricts in Zhejiang province, which was a part of China Patient-Centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events (PEACE) project. Participants in 2018 (n=3089) and in 2020 (n=3082) at high risk of CVD in Zhejiang province with registry for the PEACE Project. Participants completed 3+ neuropsychological evaluations including of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) tests. Age-, gender- standardized prevalence rates were calculated based on the sixth population census for population of China. Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for the associations between the risk for all-cause dementia. Trial registration number was NCT02536456. Results: There was an increase prevalence of dementia and MCI among the individuals at high risk of CVD between 2018 and 2020. It showed that older age, lower education levels, having a medical history of hypertension, stroke and diabetes, having the family history of hypertension, heavy drinking, depression, and obesity were associated with dementia, while female might be a protective factor for dementia. Conclusion : More population-based strategies should be focusing on modifiable risk factors of dementia, such as CVD risk factors.