Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and most westernized nations. Both CVDs and their risk factors confer substantial risk for stroke and dementia, but are also associated with more subtle changes in brain structure and function and cognitive performance prior to such devastating clinical outcomes. It has been suggested that there exists a continuum of brain abnormalities and cognitive difficulties associated with increasingly severe manifestations of cardiovascular risk factors and diseases that precede vascular cognitive...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and most westernized nations. Both CVDs and their risk factors confer substantial risk for stroke and dementia, but are also associated with more subtle changes in brain structure and function and cognitive performance prior to such devastating clinical outcomes. It has been suggested that there exists a continuum of brain abnormalities and cognitive difficulties associated with increasingly severe manifestations of cardiovascular risk factors and diseases that precede vascular cognitive...