The Associations Between Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Cognitive Function

Cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) are known to contribute to vascular cognitive impairment and dementia in later life. Their modifiability provides a promising avenue for reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. This thesis summarizes the associations the current literature identifies between CVRFs, cognition and dementia while including control and management, identifies the associations between diabetes, control and cognition in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), and employs machine learning (ML) for hypothesis generation and examining the most significant contributors to cognitive function and impairment in the CLSA. Our review found managing diabetes and hypertension improves cognitive outcomes, while therapeutic control remains inconclusive. The cross-sectional analysis of the CLSA illustrated uncontrolled diabetes results in poorer cognitive outcomes, while ML models highlighted social determinants of health as key contributors. Future research should explore CVRFs longitudinally in neuro-healthy populations, utilize ML to generate hypotheses, and address social determinants for at-risk groups.