• Hans-Christoph Diener, Robert G Hart, Peter J Koudstaal, Deirdre A Lane, and Lip Gregory Y H GYH Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Liverpool and Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Aalborg Thrombos.
• Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen and University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Electronic address: hans.diener@uk-essen.de.
• J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2019 Feb 12; 73 (5): 612-619.

AbstractNumerous vascular risk factors and vascular diseases contribute to cognitive impairment and dementia. Many studies and registries show an association of atrial fibrillation (AF) with cognitive impairment, cognitive decline, and dementia. This is true for vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The assumed multifactorial mechanisms include ischemic stroke, both apparent and silent, cerebral microinfarcts, cerebral hemorrhage, and reduced cerebral blood flow. A number of retrospective observational and prospective studies support that anticoagulation in patients with AF may reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. This holds for both vitamin K antagonists (e.g., warfarin) and direct oral anticoagulants. However, it still remains unproven if anticoagulation reduces cognitive decline and dementia in AF patients based on randomized trials.Copyright © 2019 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

14 keywords...

hide…