Predicting cognitive function and dementia risk in patients with hypertension

In spite of the fact that hypertension stand out as the main vascular risk factor for developing dementia, it is essential to acknowledge the presence of other risk factors, both vascular and non-vascular that contribute to increase this risk. This study stratified the dementia risk using CAIDE (Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia) dementia risk score in a sample of 1279 hypertensive patients from the Heart-Brain Study in Argentina and to observed the association between the risk factors include in the CAIDE score and the current cognitive status. The average age of the sample was 60.2 +/- 13.5 years (71% female) and the average years of education was 9.9 +/- 5.1 years. To assess the current cognitive status, we used the Mini-mental test (MMSE), the clock drawing test (CDT) and Mini-Boston test. According to CAIDE score ( >= 9 points) the risk of dementia was 40.4% in the total sample and 28.1% in the middle-life hypertensive patients (between 47 to 53 years). An inverse association was observed between CAIDE score and the results of current cognitive tests (MMSE = R2 0.9128, p < 0.0001; CDT = R2 0.9215, p < 0.0001 y Mini-Boston= R2 0.829, p < 0.0001). The CAIDE score can predict the risk of dementia in hypertensive patients and its result was associated with the current cognitive status (result of cognitive tests).