Correlation of serum thyroxine and Apelin with cognitive impairment in patients with cerebral small vessel disease

Abstract:

Objective To investigate whether serum thyroxine（TH） and Apelin are associated with cognitive impairment（CI） in patients with cerebral small vessel disease（CSVD）.Methods A total of 85 consecutive patients with CSVD and 30 healthy controls（HC） were recruited in this study. The patients were assessed via the Montreal cognitive assessment scale（MoCA） and further divided into non-cognitive impairment（NCI） group and CI group. The levels of serum TH and Apelin were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. MoCA was used to assess the cognitive function. The relationship between the TH，Apelin and CI was explored through Pearson correlation analysis and univariate linear regression analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine risk factors associated with CI onset. The receiver operating characteristic（ROC） curve was used to analyze the diagnostic value of TH and Apelin in CSVD associated CI.Results Compared with HC group and NCI group，patients in CI group had significantly lower free triiodothyronine（FT3） levels and higher Apelin levels. The correlation analysis revealed a negative correlation between Apelin and MoCA in CSVD patients. The logistic analysis adjusted for confounding factors showed that the increase in Apelin and decrease in FT3 significantly correlated with CI risk. ROC curve analysis suggested that FT3，Apelin，and the combination of FT3-Apelin had a significant diagnostic value for CI.Conclusion The decrease of FT3 and increase of Apelin are independently associated with CI and their combination may be useful in identifying who is at risk for CI in CSVD patients.