February 2023
Practical Aspects of Cognitive Impairment and the Dementias
Edited by Philip B. Gorelick, Farzaneh A. Sorond
Initially, there was hesitancy by the AD research community to embrace the possible role of vascular risks as precursor factors for the dementias. Over time, however, the concept of prevention of the dementias through modification of vascular risks gained traction in clinical practice. Whereas AD has played a dominant role in the clinical landscape of the dementias, research breakthroughs in regards to the potential importance of vascular risks as precursors to age-related cognitively impairing disorders, and community necropsy studies showing the importance of “mixed” neuropathologic changes (e.g. cooccurrence of stroke and AD brain changes) in more than 50% of the patients, provide support for the importance of vascular risk factors and cerebrovascular disease in the genesis of the dementias.
