Association between arterial stiffness, cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Thomas T. van Sloten, Athanase D. Protogerou, Ronald M. A. Henry, Miranda T. Schram, Lenore J. Launer, Coen D. A. Stehouwer*

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Arterial stiffness may be a cause of cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive impairment. We therefore performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the association between stiffness, cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive impairment. For the associations between stiffness (i.e. carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), brachial-ankle PVVV (baPWV), carotid stiffness and pulse pressure) on the one hand and cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive impairment on the other, we identified 23 (n = 15,666/20 cross-sectional; 1 longitudinal; 2 combined cross-sectional/longitudinal) and 41 studies (n= 57,671/26 cross-sectional; 11 longitudinal; 4 combined cross-sectional/longitudinal), respectively. Pooled analyses of cross-sectional studies showed that greater stiffness was associated with markers of cerebral small vessel disease with odds ratios, per +1 SD, of 1.29-1.32 (P
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)121-130
JournalNeuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Volume53
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2015

Keywords

  • Arterial stiffness
  • Cerebral small vessel disease
  • White matter hyperintensities
  • Cerebral microbleeds
  • Cerebral infarcts
  • Cognitive impairment
  • Dementia
  • Meta-analysis
  • Systematic review

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