Table 1 Patient characteristics according to cognitive impairment (T-score < 40 in at least one domain)

 Age (years)

63.8 (10.8)

62.1 (11.4)

64.9 (10.3)

0.129

 Female sex

22 (15.1%)

6 (10.3%)

16 (18.2%)

0.195

 Body mass index (kg/m²)

29.1 (5.2)

29.5 (6.4)

28.8 (4.3)

0.451

 Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)

138.1 (19.9)

134.7 (19.3)

140.4 (20.1)

0.090

 Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)

81.0 (11.0)

80.0 (11.4)

81.8 (10.9)

0.354

 Heart rate (beats per minute)

64.5 (10.4)

63.8 (10.8)

65.1 (10.3)

0.452

 Diabetes mellitus type II^a

42 (28.8%)

16 (27.6%)

26 (29.5%)

0.798

 Arterial hypertension^b

116 (79.5%)

44 (75.9%)

72 (81.8%)

0.383

 Hyperlipidemia^c

105 (71.9%)

45 (77.6%)

60 (68.2%)

0.216

 (Former) smoking

88 (60.3%)

41 (70.7%)

47 (53.4%)

0.037

 Apparent dementia

0 (0.0%)

–

–

–

 Atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter

33 (22.6%)

13 (22.4%)

20 (22.7%)

0.965

 Coronary artery disease

100 (68.5%)

38 (65.5%)

62 (70.5%)

0.530

 History of myocardial infarction

80 (54.8%)

32 (55.2%)

48 (54.5%)

0.941

 History of coronary artery bypass grafting

36 (24.7%)

13 (22.4%)

23 (26.1%)

0.610

 Peripheral artery disease

14 (9.6%)

6 (10.3%)

8 (9.1%)

0.801

 Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor

86 (58.9%)

35 (60.3%)

51 (58.0%)

0.774

 Beta-blocker

131 (89.7%)

51 (87.9%)

80 (90.9%)

0.562

 Aldosteron antagonist

54 (37.0%)

20 (34.5%)

34 (38.6%)

0.611

 Diuretics

80 (54.8%)

29 (50.0%)

51 (58.0%)

0.345

 Acetylsalicylic acid

80 (54.8%)

28 (48.3%)

52 (59.1%)

0.199

 Coumadin or novel oral anticoagulant

45 (30.8%)

16 (27.6%)

28 (31.8%)

0.586

 Left ventricular ejection fraction (%)

42.5 (8.2)

41.7 (7.8)

43.0 (8.4)

0.337

 Left atrial volume index (ml/min)

42.0 (17.5)

40.6 (14.1)

42.6 (18.9)

0.481

 6-min walk test (m)

391.5 (99.3)

417.2 (97.6)

375.0 (97.5)

0.014

 NT-proBNP (pg/ml)

1330 (2041)

1192 (2409)

1422 (1764)

0.515

 eGFR (ml/min)

66.5 (19.4)

69.4 (19.5)

64.6 (19.2)

0.149

 Intensity of attention (T-score)

41.8 (7.5)

47.2 (5.6)

38.3 (6.5)

< 0.001

 Visual/verbal memory (T-score)

45.3 (6.2)

50.3 (6.7)

42.0 (6.9)

< 0.001

 Executive functions (T-score)

45.4 (5.3)

47.8 (4.6)

43.9 (5.2)

< 0.001

  Selectivity of attention (T-score)

45.3 (7.9)

46.5 (5.7)

44.4 (6.4)

0.052

  Working memory (T-score)

46.2 (8.5)

49.3 (8.0)

44.2 (8.3)

< 0.001

  Visual/verbal fluency (T-score)

44.8 (7.1)

47.6 (5.6)

43.0 (7.6)

< 0.001

 WMH volume (mm³)

4.36 (6.20)

3.88 (4.58)

4.67 (7.07)

0.452

 Cerebral atrophy score (1–8)

3.25 (1.26)

3.15 (1.38)

3.31 (1.19)

0.447

 Hippocampal atrophy score (0–4)

2.04 (0.90)

1.88 (0.86)

2.14 (0.91)

0.085

 Neurofilament light chain (pg/ml)

34.0 (27.8)

30.7 (23.7)

36.2 (30.1)

0.247

 Phosphorylated tau protein (pg/ml)

1.69 (1.33)

1.66 (0.88)

2.16 (1.53)

0.014