- Vascular dementia causes around one in 10 dementia cases in the United States.
- It is often caused by cerebral small vessel disease, which damages cells lining the blood vessels in the brain.
- The symptoms are very similar to other forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
- Currently, diagnosis relies on neuroimaging to identify the damage to the blood vessels.
- A new study has shown that increased levels of a biomarker in blood plasma could help identify vascular dementia in its early stages.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, and the one that most people are aware of. It causes some 70% of dementia cases.
Other forms include
One major cause of cognitive decline and dementia in older people is
The symptoms of this vascular dementia can often be confused with those of other forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, particularly in the early stages.
And early diagnosis is difficult, requiring MRI or CT scans to identify key changes, such as
Now, a study from the University of California Los Angeles has shown that high levels of placental growth factor (PlGF) in the blood can indicate the vascular damage responsible for this type of dementia.
The study was part of the MarkVCID Consortium, established in 2016, which aims to understand exactly how vascular brain injury contributes to dementia.
The findings are published in
Vascular dementia is the second most common type of dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, vascular dementia alone is responsible for 5–10% of dementia cases. However, it often coexists with Alzheimer’s…
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