Table 1.

Studies of the cross-sectional association between arterial stiffness and cognitive function

Publication	Cohort	Age (years)	Arterial stiffness measure	Cognitive tests assessed	Result
Elias et al., 2009 [21]	Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal study, (N=409), USA	24-92	Carotid-femoral PWV	Visual-spatial organization and memory: Hooper visual organization test, matrix reasoning, block design, and object assembly Scanning and tracking: Trail making Tests A and B, Digit substitution, and symbol search Verbal episodic memory: immediate and delayed, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test Working Memory: Digit span forward and backward, letter-number sequence, and controlled oral word associations Global composite score	Greater PWV was associated with worse performance on tests measuring visualspatial organization (p<0.05), verbal memory (p<0.05), and global cognitive function (p<0.05) The decrement in cognitive performance associated with greater PWV increases with age
Fukuhara et al., 2006 [18]	From community, Japan (N=203)	85	Brachial-Ankle PWV	Global cognition: MMSE	Greater PWV was associated with lower score on the MMSE (β=−0.157; P=0.003)
Mitchell et al., 2011 [27]	AGES-Reykjavik Study, (N=668), Iceland	69-93	Carotid-femoral PWV, Pulse Pressure (PP)	Memory: California verbal learning test (immediate and delayed) Processing speed: Digit Substitution Test, Figure comparison, Stroop tests I (word naming) and II (Color naming) Executive function: Digit Backward, Stroop test III, and Shortened Cambridge Test Automated battery	Greater PWV was associated with worse performance on tests assessing memory (β=−0.095; p=0.028) and executive function (β=−0.076; p=0.09) Greater PP was associated with worse performance on tests assessing memory (β=−0.114; p=0.013) and executive function (β=−0.094; p=0.05)
Poels et al., 2007 [23]	Rotterdam Study, (N=3714), Netherlands	55+	Carotid-femoral PWV	Global cognition: MMSE Executive function: Letter digit substitution task, Stroop test, and word fluency test	Greater PWV was associated with worse performance on the Stroop (β=−1.13; 95%CI=0.26; 1.99)
Scuteri et al., 2005 [19]	From hospital, (N=84), Italy	78±5	Carotid-femoral PWV	Global cognition: MMSE	Greater PWV was correlated with worse score on the MMSE (β=−0.28; p<0.01)
Singer et al., 2013 [28]	The community-based Sidney Memory and Aging Study (N=319), Australia	70-90	Carotid-femoral PWV	Processing speed: digit symbol coding, and trail making test A Memory: Rey Auditory Visual Verbal Learning test, Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT), and Logical Story A (delayed) Language: Animal naming, and Boston Naming Test Executive function: Phonemic fluency, Trail making Test B, and Stroop Test Visualspatial ability: block design Global composite score	No significant associations between PWV and cognitive function
Triantafyllidi et al., 2009 [20]	From Hospital, (N=110), Greece	40-80	Carotid-femoral PWV	Global cognition: MMSE	Greater PWV was associated with worse score on the MMSE (β=−0.36; p=0.026)
Tsao et al., 2013 [29]	Framingham Offspring cohort study, (N=1559), USA	61±9	Carotid-femoral PWV, Pulse pressure	Logical Memory delayed recall Executive: Trail making Test part B minus Part A score	Greater PWV was not associated with measures of cognitive function Greater PP was associated with worse performance on the Logical Memory delayed recall test (β=−0.07; p<0.05)
Watson et al., 2011 [25]	The Cognitive Vitality Substusy (N=552), in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study, USA	73.1±2.7	Carotid-femoral PWV	Global cognition: the Modified Mini Mental Status Exam (3MS) Verbal learning and memory: The Buschke selective reminding test Psychomotor speed: The boxes and Digit copying test Perceptual speed: the Pattern and letter comparison test	Greater PWV was associated with worse scores on tests assessing global function (β=−0.55; 95%CI=−0.91; −0.19), psychomotor speed (β=−1.59; 95%CI=−3.03; −0.15), and perceptual speed (β=−0.60; 95%CI=−0.98; −0.22).
Zhong et al., 2014 [30]	The Epidemiology of Hearing Loss Study, (N=1436), USA	43-84	Carotid-femoral PWV	Global cognition: MMSE Executive function, attention, and speed: Trail making tests A and B, Digit symbol substitution test Memory: Rey Auditory Verbal learning test Semantic memory: verbal fluency test	High PWV, defined as >12 m/s, was associated with worse performance on the MMSE (β=−0.31; p=0.005), RAVLT (β=−1.10; p=0.01), and the composite score (β=−0.10; p=0.04)