Vascular Dementia – Is There a Way to Prevent It?

Aging is often associated with some cognitive impairment. Greater population life expectancy is one explanation for increased incidence of cognitive impairment cases. A large number of people with cognitive impairment and dementia is becoming one of the most important medical and social problems worldwide. Therefore, prevention of cognitive impairment is an imperative. Dementia includes a heterogeneous group of disorders, the most common being Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and Vascular dementia (VD). Most cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, atrial fibrillation, and smoking are not exclusively risk factors for VD, but also for AD. Early changes in the blood vessel wall can be detected by early ultrasound screening methods which allow us to detect changes before the disease becomes clinically evident. Early disease detection enables in-time management, and studies have shown that careful control of vascular risk factors can postpone or even reverse disease progression.