Atherosclerotic risk factors, vascular cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer disease.

The involvement of vascular factors in Alzheimer dementia was first appreciated over 100 years ago. Recently, significant advances in our understanding of these brain-vascular relationships have taken place. Vascular cognitive impairment is now recognized as a distinct group of interrelated vascular-based neurological insults that can accumulate and lead to dementia. Importantly, the pathology of vascular cognitive impairment extends far beyond brain destruction wrought by major stroke. Other subtle changes may also arise that contribute to vascular cognitive impairment and dementia, including subclinical stroke, white-matter changes such as hyperintensities and lipohyalinosis, small lacunar infarcts, cerebral hypoperfusion, and compromise of the blood-brain barrier. In this review we critically examine the emerging body of evidence that relates atherosclerotic risk factors, brain functioning, and Alzheimer disease.