Mild cognitive deterioration with subcortical features: prevalence, clinical characteristics, and association with cardiovascular risk factors in community-dwelling older persons (The InCHIANTI Study).
OBJECTIVE
To identify subjects with minimal or mild nonamnestic cognitive impairment with parkinsonian stance and gait and investigate vascular correlates of this condition.


METHODS
First wave of an epidemiological longitudinal study (InCHIANTI) on factors predicting loss of mobility in older persons.


METHODS
The Chianti geographic area (Tuscany, Italy).


METHODS
Five hundred fifty-six subjects aged 70 to 90 with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores greater than 23 of 30, of the 1,260 persons aged 65 and older randomly selected from the population registry of Greve in Chianti and Bagno a Ripoli, two small towns near Florence.


METHODS
Low cognitive performance (LCP) was defined as an age- and education-adjusted MMSE below the 50th percentile for the InCHIANTI population. Subcortical features were plastic rigidity on neurological examination (parkinsonism), gait disturbance (small-step gait or parkinsonian gait), and dysexecutive features. Two hundred forty-three participants had high cognitive performance, 166 had LCP without subcortical features, and 75 had LCP with subcortical features. Vascular risk factors were hypertension, atrial fibrillation or pathological findings on electrocardiogram (ECG), low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and heavy smoking.


RESULTS
Three main vascular risk factors were significantly more prevalent in LCP with subcortical features: hypertension (P =.02), atrial fibrillation or ECG changes (P =.04), and low HDL cholesterol (P =.001). LCP with subcortical features was significantly associated with cerebrovascular risk factors (P =.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Gait disturbance and nonamnestic cognitive symptoms might be the consequence of subcortical vascular damage.
Geroldi
Cristina
C
Laboratory of Epidemiology and Neuroimaging, IRCCS San Giovanni di Dio, Brescia, Italy.
Ferrucci
Luigi
L
Bandinelli
Stefania
S
Cavazzini
Chiara
C
Zanetti
Orazio
O
Guralnik
Jack M
JM
Frisoni
Giovanni B
GB
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016014:Linear Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors