Association between vascular dementia and carotid artery atherosclerosis

Objective To investigate the effects of carotid artery atherosclerosis on the occurrence and development of vascular dementia( VaD). Methods Color Doppler ultrasound examination was conducted in 61 patients with vascular dementia( VaD group) and 70 controls( control group). The value of common carotid artery( CCA),internal carotid artery( ICA) intimal-medial wall thickness( IMT),internal diameter,incidence of carotid artery plaque and nature of the carotid artery plaque were detected. The levels of total cholesterol( TC),triglycerides( TG),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol( HDL-C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol( LDL-C) were detected by automatic biochemistry analyzer. Results The common carotid artery IMT and internal carotid artery IMT of the VaD group were significantly greater than those of the control group,common carotid artery and internal carotid artery diameters were significantly less than those of the control group( all P 0. 05); the incidence of plaque of VaD group was obviously higher than that of control group( P 0. 05); TC,TG,LDL-C of VaD group were significantly higher than those of the control group,but HDL-C was significantly lower than that of the control group( all P 0. 05). Conclusion Carotid artery atherosclerotic formation is closely related to the occurrence of VaD.