Association of mild cognitive impairment and metabolic syndrome in patients with hypertension.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in patients with hypertension and to evaluate the association of MCI with metabolic syndrome (MetS). 186 subjects with hypertension were evaluated on Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for cognitive decline and depression, respectively and MetS was diagnosed as per the Consensus definition. The prevalence of MCI was 65.6 % and that of MetS was 45.7 %. Compared to those without MetS, those with MetS had significantly poorer cognitive functioning on the all cognitive domain of the MoCA, even after controlling for age, education, severity of the depression and duration of illness. Low High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) was found to have a positive correlation with MoCA. Higher age, lower education, higher duration of illness and use of higher numbers of medications were associated with significantly lower score on MoCA. Presence of MetS among persons with hypertension is associated with cognitive decline. Hence, there is a need to monitor and manage other parameters of MetS among patients with hypertension, to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and future dementia.