Abstract:
Objective To analyze the risk factors for cognitive impairment in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis and to explore related intervetion strategies.
Methods 110 patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis were screened. Cognitive status was assessed via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Patients were divided into a cognitive impairment group (n = 46) and a non-cognitive impairment group (n = 64), with baseline demographics compared. Binary logistic regression was employed to identify the risk factors affecting the occurrence of cognitive impairment in patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis, and ROC curves were constructed to assess the predictive efficacy of each variable for cognitive impairment in these patients.
Results Body mass index (BMI), the proportion of hypertension, the proportion of severe carotid stenosis, and homocysteine (Hcy) levels were all higher in the cognitive impairment group than in the non-cognitive impairment group (P < 0.01). Independent predictors of cognitive impairment included high BMI, hypertension, high-degree carotid stenosis, and high Hcy levels (P < 0.01). The AUCs for BMI, hypertention, degree of carotid artery stenosis, Hcy were 0.768, 0.698, 0.706, 0.893, and 0.961 respectively; the sensitivities for these predictors were 0.543, 0.739, 0.609, 0.891, and 0.935 respectively; and the specificities were 0.891, 0.656, 0.750, 0.797, and 0.844 respectively. These findings indicate that the combined prediction model had the best efficacy, with good sensitivity and specificity.
Conclusions Cognitive impairment in patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis is influenced by multiple factors including BMI, hypertension, stenosis severity, and Hcy levels. The predictive power of these factors, particularly when combined, underscores the importance of comprehensive intervention strategies to address cognitive decline in this patient population. The combined multiple indicators provides the best predictive efficacy, and comprehensive interventions are needed to prevent cognitive impairment.