Higher Total Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Burden Was Associated With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Overall Cognitive Dysfunction: A Propensity Score-Matched Case-Control Study

Background and Objective The combination of neuroimaging and cognition characteristics may provide complementary information for early identification of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This study aimed to establish the clinical relevance between cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) burden and MCI and further explored the cognitive characteristics linked to CSVD applying a propensity score matching (PSM) approach. Methods The study was designed as a case-control study. All the subjects underwent the standard clinical assessments, neuropsychological testing battery (including global cognition, memory, executive function, and speed and motor control domains), and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A 1:2 nearest-neighbor matching approach without replacement was employed with a caliper of 0.15 in the PSM approach. Results A total of 84 MCI patients and 186 cognitively normal controls were included in this study. After PSM, 74 MCI patients and 129 controls were successfully matched, and the covariate imbalance was well eliminated. Compared with controls, the MCI group had more severe CSVD burden. In the binary logistic regression analysis, CSVD was associated with MCI after adjusting for all confounders. The results of multivariate linear regression analyses showed that higher total MRI CSVD burden was related to the deficit of cognitive performance in global cognition and three important cognitive domains after adjusting for all confounders. Conclusion Cerebral small vessel disease was an independent risk factor of MCI. Moreover, higher total MRI CSVD burden was associated with the overall cognitive impairment among middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults.