Impact of viral and bacterial burden on cognitive impairment in elderly persons with cardiovascular diseases.

Background And Purpose: Inflammation and infectious etiology have been implicated in the pathogenesis of dementia. We sought to investigate whether the seropositivity of common infections was associated with cognitive function.

Methods: Viral burden (seropositivity for herpes simplex virus type 1 [HSV-1], herpes simplex virus type 2 [HSV-2], or cytomegalovirus [CMV]) and bacterial burden (Chlamydia pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae) were related to cognitive status and its impairment among 383 home-dwelling elderly with cardiovascular diseases (mean age, 80 years).