Simple Neuropsychological Tests May Identify Participants in Whom Aspirin Use Is Associated With Lower Dementia Incidence: The Canadian Study of Health and Aging.

BACKGROUND

We hypothesized that neuropsychological tests could help in identifying preclinical stages of vascular cognitive impairment, when aspirin use might be associated with lower dementia incidence.

METHODS

We used data of Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) which was a longitudinal study of Canadians older than 65 years and was done in 3 waves, 1991 to 1992 (CSHA-1), 1996 to 1997 (CSHA-2), and 2001 to 2002.

RESULTS

CSHA-1 participants with vascular dementia performed worse in copying pentagons and writing subtests of modified Mini-Mental State Examination test than participants with probable Alzheimer's disease. Salicylates use was associated with lower incident dementia among normal cognition CSHA-1 participants who had low scores in copying pentagons and writing subtests after controlling for age, sex, education, and vascular risk factors (odds ratio = 0.25, 95% confidence interval: 0.073-0.86, P = .028).

CONCLUSIONS

Two simple neuropsychological tests might help in identifying preclinical stages of vascular cognitive impairment, and salicylates use was associated with lower dementia incidence.