Asymptomatic spontaneous cerebral emboli and cognitive decline in a cohort of older people: a prospective study.
BACKGROUND
Asymptomatic spontaneous cerebral emboli (SCE) are common in dementia and are associated with cognitive decline in dementia. The significance of their presence in older people is unknown.


METHODS
We included 96 participants (mean (SD) age 76.8 (6.7) years, 46% female) who were the control group in a case-control study to evaluate SCE in dementia. Cognitive functioning was assessed prospectively over 2.5 years, using the MMSE and CAMCOG.


RESULTS
The mean (SD) MMSE score was 28.7 (1.4) at baseline with an average (SD) drop of 0.79 (0.91) per year. The presence of SCE was not related to the annual drop in MMSE score, nor to the CAMCOG score at follow-up (p = 0.88 and p = 0.41, respectively). Linear regression analyses identified higher age in years (beta = 0.29, p = 0.003), history of stroke (beta = 0.31, p = 0.001) and carotid stenosis (beta = 0.28, p = 0.003) as independent predictors of cognitive decline.


CONCLUSIONS
We found no association between the presence of SCE and subsequent cognitive decline in older people without dementia.
Voshaar
Richard C Oude
RC
University of Manchester, Division of Psychiatry, Education and Research Centre, South Manchester University Hospital, Wythenshawe, Manchester, UK.
Purandare
Nitin
N
Hardicre
Jayne
J
McCollum
Charles
C
Burns
Alistair
A
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D020766:Intracranial Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial