Association of pulsatility index with total burden of cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive impairment

Abstract Objective This study investigated the correlation between the pulsatility index (PI) of the middle cerebral artery with the total burden of cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive impairment. Method Information on patients hospitalized in the Department of Neurology was collected retrospectively. These patients had complete clinical and laboratory data. The middle cerebral artery PI was measured using transcranial Doppler, a Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to assess cognitive function, and the total cerebral small vessel disease burden was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging. Patients were grouped according to their scores for total imaging burden of cerebral small vessel disease and cognitive function. Logistic regression analysis assessed the association between the PI, total imaging burden, and cognitive impairment. Spearman analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between the PI and total imaging burden and cognitive impairment, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the predictive value of the PI for cognitive function. Results The PI was higher in the cognitive impairment (CI) group than in the no‐CI group. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that increased PI was an independent risk factor for CI (OR = 1.582; 95% CI: 1.043–2.401; p = .031) and total imaging burden (OR = 1.842; 95% CI: 1.274–2.663; p = .001). Spearman analysis found that the PI correlated negatively with the MMSE score (r = −.627, p