ArticleThe Kaohsiung journal of medical sciences2026
Structural Carotid Atherosclerosis and Mild Behavioral Impairment: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Community-Dwelling Population.
Article in The Kaohsiung journal of medical sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) is a late-life neuropsychiatric syndrome proposed as an early clinical manifestation of neurodegenerative disease. Vascular pathology contributes to late-life cognitive and behavioral changes; however, its relationship with MBI remains insufficiently characterized. This cross-sectional study investigated whether structural carotid atherosclerosis is associated with MBI and its symptom domains in 563 community-dwelling, dementia-free adults aged ≥ 50 from the Kaohsiung Atherosclerosis Longitudinal Study between 2018 and 2021. MBI was assessed using the informant-rated Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist, evaluating apathy/motivation, affective dysregulation, impulse dyscontrol, social inappropriateness, and abnormal thought/perception. Structural carotid atherosclerosis was evaluated by ultrasound, assessing plaques and mean carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) across the common carotid artery (CCA), bifurcation, and internal carotid artery. Advanced structural atherosclerosis was defined as the presence of plaque or top-quartile cIMT. Multivariable regression models examined associations between carotid atherosclerosis and MBI severity, adjusting for demographics, medical conditions, and global cognition. Advanced structural atherosclerosis was independently associated with higher MBI scores (β = 0.143, p = 0.001). Elevated cIMT-but not plaque-was significantly associated with MBI severity. Segment-specific analyses showed increased CCA IMT was the only vascular marker significantly related to MBI total scores. Furthermore, advanced structural atherosclerosis was associated with increased odds of decreased motivation, impulse dyscontrol, and social inappropriateness. In conclusion, structural carotid atherosclerosis, particularly elevated CCA IMT, is associated with greater MBI symptom burden in middle-to-older adults. Subclinical vascular pathology may contribute to early neurobehavioral changes, highlighting the importance of vascular health in identifying individuals at risk for neurodegenerative disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.