Abstract
<jats:p>Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) includes any degree of cognitive impairment, from subjective cognitive decline to mild cognitive impairment, to dementia that shares a presumed vascular cause (stroke and/or vascular risk factors) alone or in combination (additive or synergistic interactions) with neurodegenerative pathology. The vascular contribution to dementia represents at least 20–40% of all dementia cases. On one hand, cognitive decline produced by an acute stroke is the most well-known type of VCI; on the other hand, different cerebrovascular diseases, especially subclinical cerebral white matter lesions and subclinical microinfarcts (representing types of cerebral small-vessel diseases), can determine insidious cognitive decline. The most important mechanism of VCI is chronic age-related dysregulation of cerebral blood flow. If vascular risk factors are detected in midlife, they envisage cognitive impairment later in life. In this chapter, we present recent data concerning the epidemiology, mechanisms, diagnostic criteria, neuroimaging features, and vascular risk factors of VCI.</jats:p>