Cerebral Infarcts and Cognitive Performance

Abstract

Background and Purpose— Cerebral infarcts increase the risk for cognitive impairment. The relevance of location and number of infarcts with respect to cognitive function is less clear. Methods— We studied the cross-sectional association between number and location of infarcts and cognitive performance in 4030 nondemented participants of the Age Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study. Composite scores for memory, processing speed, and executive function were created from a neuropsychological battery. Subcortical, cortical, and cerebellar infarcts were identified on brain MRI. We performed linear regression analyses adjusted for demographic and vascular risk factors, depression, white matter lesions, and atrophy. Results— Compared to participants with no infarcts, those with infarcts in multiple locations (n=287, 7%) had slower processing speed (β=−0.19; P<0.001) and poorer memory (β=−0.16; P<0.001) and executive function (β=−0.12; P=0.003). Compared to no infarcts, the presence of either subcortic...