New guidelines could help improve research into vascular cognitive impairment

New guidelines have been developed that it is hoped will help to progress research into vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) following a study led by academics at the University of Bristol that brought together the views of over 150 researchers in 27 countries. VCI refers to a decline in mental abilities, such as memory, thinking and planning, caused by problems with the blood supply to the brain. Vascular dementia, which is perhaps a more familiar term to most people, is recognised as a severe form of VCI. VCI is the second most common cause of dementia and gradual memory loss after Alzheimer's disease. Like Alzheimer's disease it does not have a cure and together both conditions contribute to the largest cause of death in England and Wales according to recent reports. The Bristol team, led by Pat Kehoe , Gestetner Professor of Translational Dementia Research and Joint Head of the Dementia Research Group in the School of Clinical Sciences , invited researchers from around the world to participate in a project called the Vascular Impairment of Cognition Classification Consensus Study (VICCCS), which is funded by the Alzheimer's Society. The international consortium has published their findings on what was agreed as a revised conceptual model of VCI and what should be considered to be its various subtypes.