Increased insulin resistance is associated with vascular cognitive impairment in Chinese patients with cerebral small vessel disease

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between insulin resistance (IR) and vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) in patients with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD).

Methods: A total of 275 CSVD patients were enrolled in this retrospective case-control study. The homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was used to measure the index of insulin resistance. Cognitive function was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation between HOMA-IR and MoCA score. The variance inflation factor (VIF) was used to detect collinearity between variables. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to confirm whether HOMA-IR is an independent risk factor for VCI in CVSD. Finally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted to assess the diagnostic value of HOMA-IR in VCI.

Results: Of the 275 patients, 164 displayed VCI. VCI patients showed a significantly higher level of HOMA-IR compared to non-VCI patients (P < 0.001). HOMA-IR was negatively correlated with the MoCA score (r = -0.593, P < 0.001). After adjusting for potential confounding variables, using HOMA-IR quartile 1 (<1.11) as the reference, HOMA-IR quartile 3 (1.71-2.50) and quartile 4 (≥2.50) were independently associated with the occurrence of VCI; for each one unit increase in the HOMA-IR, the risk of VCI increased by 177.3% (odds ratio 2.773, 95% confidence interval: 1.050-7.324, P = 0.040) and 444.3% (odds ratio 5.443, 95% confidence interval: 2.109-14.050, P < 0.001), respectively. According to the ROC curve, the optimal cut-off point of HOMA-IR in predicting VCI was 1.55, and the area under the curve was 0.744, with a sensitivity of 71.3% and a specificity of 69.4%.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that increased IR is significantly associated with VCI in CSVD patients.

Keywords: cerebral small vessel disease; homeostatic model assessment; insulin resistance; vascular cognitive impairment.