Cortical microinfarcts and demyelination affect cognition in cases at high risk for dementia

Objective: To investigate the possible synergistic effect of microvascular lesions with mild Alzheimer disease ( AD) pathology in mixed cases. Methods: We assessed the cognitive impact of cortical microinfarcts, deep white matter and periventricular demyelination, as well as diffuse and focal gliosis in a large series of 43 prospectively evaluated autopsy cases scored Braak neurofibrillary tangle stage III, but without macroscopic vascular pathology or substantial non- AD, nonvascular microscopic lesions. We included bilateral assessment of all types of microvascular lesions and used multivariate models that control for the possible confounding effect of age and amyloid beta-protein ( A beta) deposits. Results: Only cortical microinfarcts and periventricular demyelination were significantly associated with the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale ( CDR) score. In a univariate model, the cortical microinfarct score explained 9% of the variability in CDR scores and periventricular demyelination score 7.3%. A beta deposition explained only 3.5% of the CDR variability. In a logistic regression model, both variables were strongly associated with the presence of dementia ( R = 0.45; p < 0.05). When the CDR sum of the boxes was used, A beta staging explained 8.9% of cognitive variability, the addition of cortical microinfarct predicted an extra 15.5%, and that of periventricular demyelination an extra 9%. Conclusions: Cortical microinfarcts and, to a lesser degree, periventricular demyelination contribute to the cognitive decline in individuals at high risk for dementia. Both should be taken into account when defining the neuropathologic criteria for mixed dementia.