Preclinical vascular cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease: Different neuropsychological deficits are present five years before diagnosis

Abstract

Neuropsychological deficits that precede a diagnosis of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) are not well understood. Our sample comprised 332 individuals diagnosed with no cognitive impairment (NCI) in the baseline phase of the population-based Canadian Study of Health and Aging. After five years, 41 were diagnosed with VCI, 25 with AD and 266 with NCI. The incident VCI group performed worse on an abstract reasoning test (WAIS-R Similarities) compared to incident AD and NCI groups. The incident AD group performed worse on memory tests (WAIS-R Information, Buschke Cued Recall) compared to incident VCI and NCI groups. This suggests a preclinical phase may exist in VCI that differs from that in AD. Neuropsychological measures may help in the design and implementation of preventive strategies for VCI.