Abstract
Microvascular brain damage is a potent risk factor for cognitive decline in elderly hypertensive individuals and for the onset of dementia (Scuteri et al., J Hypertens 29:1469–77, 2011). In addition to elderly patients, cognitive decline has also been detected in asymptomatic middle-aged hypertensive patients. Therefore, neuropsychological evaluation and neuroimaging are required to assess silent brain damage induced by hypertension and the associated cardiovascular risk factors. With respect to cognitive decline, clinicians should be aware of the high prevalence of microvascular brain damage and make an effort to screen for cognitive function very early in the natural history of the disease and follow-up for cognitive deterioration. Patients with hypertension should be asked during the routine clinical examination whether they have recently experienced changes in memory or mood, speed of thinking and acting, or slowness or unsteadiness during walking. The use of some of the different instruments designed to assess cognitive function and impairment, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE), the Clock Drawing test (CDT), the Mini-Cog, the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and the more sensitive Prose Memory Immediate and Delayed Recall (DR) and Digit Span (DS) Forwards tests, should be part of the routine clinical examination in hypertension.
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Doménech, M., Sierra, C., Coca, A. (2015). Questionnaires for Cognitive Function Evaluation. In: Agabiti Rosei, E., Mancia, G. (eds) Assessment of Preclinical Organ Damage in Hypertension. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15603-3_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15603-3_18
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