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. 2019 Aug;34(5):344-352.
doi: 10.1177/1533317519852864. Epub 2019 May 29.

Cerebrovascular Disease Is a Risk for Getting Lost Behavior in Prodromal Dementia

Chathuri Yatawara  1 , Kok Pin Ng  1 , Levinia Lim  1 , Russell Chander  1 , Juan Zhou  2 , Nagaendran Kandiah  1   2
Affiliations

Cerebrovascular Disease Is a Risk for Getting Lost Behavior in Prodromal Dementia

Chathuri Yatawara et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) contributes to spatial navigation deficits; however, the everyday outcomes of this association remain unexplored. We investigated whether CVD was a risk for getting lost behavior (GLB) in elderly with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer disease (AD). Getting lost behavior was assessed using a semistructured clinical interview and was associated with white matter lesions (WMLs) in patients with MCI. Specifically, right occipital WMLs increased the odds of GLB by 12 times (P = .03) and right temporal WMLs increased the odds of GLB by 4 times (P = .01), regardless of age, gender, global cognitive impairment, and occipital or medial temporal gray matter atrophy. Hypertension increased the risk of GLB in MCI by contributing to the burden of WMLs. White matter lesions were not associated with GLB in mild AD. Our findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing GLB in prodromal dementia may involve preventing WMLs by optimizing hypertension control.

Keywords: behavior; cerebrovascular disease; getting lost; hypertension; white matter lesions.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Mediation model depicts that the relationship between vascular risk factors (X) and getting lost behavior (GLB) (Y) (Path c) may be mediated by white matter lesions (WMLs) (M) (path ab → c) (Adapted from Hayes).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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