Impaired Cerebral Hemodynamics and Cognitive Performance in Patients with Atherothrombotic Disease.

Background And Objective: Patients with pre-existing atherothrombotic disease are prone to cognitive impairment. We tested whether impaired cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), a marker of cerebral microvascular hemodynamic dysfunction, is associated with poorer cognitive scores among patients with and without carotid large-vessel disease.

Methods: A subgroup of non-demented patients with chronic coronary heart disease followed-up for 15 ± 3 years was assessed for cognitive function (Neurotrax Computerized Cognitive Battery; scaled to an IQ style scale with a mean of 100 and SD of 15) and for CVR using the breath-holding index (BHI) with transcranial Doppler and for carotid plaques using ultrasound.