Affiliations: [a] LC Campbell Cognitive Neurology Research Unit, Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Canada
| [b] Heart & Stroke Foundation Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, Toronto, Canada
| [c] Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada
| [d] Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Jodi Edwards, PhD, Affiliate Investigator, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, M6, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada. Tel.: +416 480 6100; Fax: +416 480 4223; E-mail: jodi.edwards@sunnybrook.ca.
Abstract: Multiple cardiac pathologies have been shown to contribute to progressive cognitive decline and dementia in elderly populations, including left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), a marker of prolonged exposure to hypertension. Although associations between chronic hypertension and cognitive function are thought to be mediated primarily by these end organ effects, there is increasing evidence that early changes in cardiac structure and function, such as LVH, may independently contribute to cognitive decline and impairment. In the current issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Mahinrad and colleagues report important new findings on the association between LVH and cognitive function that are incremental to cardiovascular risk and co-morbidity, including hypertension. Emerging evidence that early changes in cardiac structure and function may independently contribute to cognitive decline in elderly populations has resulted in an increased interest in these preclinical substrates as potential treatment targets for the prevention of cognitive decline and in their putative contributions to the pathogenesis of dementia.
Keywords: Cardiac dysfunction, cognition, hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy
