title: Event-related potentials in people at risk for vascular dementia.
abstract: This study examined the relationship between the integrity of cerebrovascular microcirculation, neuropsychological testing and event-related potential indices of cognitive functioning in a nonclinical group of participants being at risk for vascular dementia. Sonographic measures, magnetic resonance (MR) scans and ERPs were recorded in 30 participants treated for arterial hypertension, with no report of neurological or psychiatric disorders. As a sonographic measure of cerebral microcirculation, the arteriorvenous cerebral transit time (cTT) was recorded. While neuropsychological measures of memory functions and general mental ability functions did not show systematic correlations with the cTT and other measures of vascular pathology, a pronounced correlation was obtained between P3a latency and cTT. Participants with long cTT showed a delayed P3a. These findings suggest that the P3a is a sensitive measure for reduced cognitive functions even at early stages of cerebrovascular pathology and by this may be a valuable tool for the early identification of cognitive deficits in individuals being at risk for vascular dementia.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Neuropsychology Unit, Saarland University, Germany. mecklinger@mx.uni-saarland.de
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mecklinger
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: König
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ruffing
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Reith
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaul
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Eva-Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Röll
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004585:Electrooculography / Q000379:methods; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012306:Risk; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial / Q000379:methods