Ratio of apoB/LDL: a potential clinical index for vascular cognitive impairment

BACKGROUND: Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), compared to vascular dementia (VD), has a broader definition and highlights the effect of vascular disease in dementia, and stroke seems play an important role in the development of VCI. However, not all patients with brain infarcts suffer from VCI; unique risk factors appear to cause such progression. This study aimed to find potential risk factors of vascular cognitive impairment among patients with brain infarcts. METHODS: Thirty-seven dementia patients and 74 brain infarction patients were included; all had infarcts in both basilar ganglia. The frequencies of risk factors, such as age, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The incident rate of hyperlipidemia in the patients with dementia was 35.14%, which was significantly lower than that in the patients with infarction (59.46%, P = 0.015). In the dementia group, there was a positive correlation between the ratio of apoprotein B (apoB)/low density lipoprotein (LDL) and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score (R = 0.411, P = 0.011). CONCLUSION: Our study indicated that the ratio of apoB/LDL may be a potential clinical index for vascular cognitive impairment. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12883-016-0766-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.