Correlation between cognitive function and cerebral microbleeds in patients with small-artery occlusive stroke A prospective case series study / 国际脑血管病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the correlation between cognitive function and cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) in patients with small artery occlusive stroke (SAO).Methods The patients with SAO in Nanjing Stroke Registration Program were recruited from January 2011 to May 2011.The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to conduct the cognitive evaluation.At the same time,conventional MRI sequences and susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) were used to detect CMBs.Results A total of 70 patients with SAO were included in the study,48 of them had abnormal MoCA scores ( ＜26 points) and 22 of them had normal MoCA scores (≥26).The age of patients (t =-2.237,P =0.023),years of education (t =2.297,P =0.029),history of hypertension (x2 =2.297,P =0.025 ),severity of white matter hyperintensities (Z =-3.263,P =0.001) and presence of CMBs (P =0.001) were associated with the abnormal MoCA scores in patients with SAO.Logistic regression analysis showed that after adjusting for age,sex,white matter lesions,hypertension,diabetes and coronary heart disease,the presence of CMBs (odds ratio 5.648,95％ confidence interval 1.105-28.869; P =0.038) was still an independent risk factor for abnormal MoCA scores.The more serious of CMBs,the lower the MoCA scores (r =- 0.532,P ＜ 0.001 ).In patients with CMBs,the cognitive domain,such as the total MoCA score (t =5.180,P ＜ 0.001 ),visuospatial/executive function (t =3.924,P ＜ 0.001 ) and attention (t =4.309,P ＜ 0.001 ) were impaired significantly.The CMBs at different parts resulted in cognitive impairment in the related fields.Conclusions The numbers of CMBs and their locations were closely associated with cognitive impairment in patients with SAO.