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Diagnostic criteria for vascular cognitive disorders: a VASCOG statement

One-paragraph summary

The VASCOG statement reframed vascular dementia as a spectrum of vascular cognitive disorders, separated mild from major disorder by functional independence, removed mandatory memory impairment, and required evidence linking cognitive disorder to cerebrovascular disease (Sachdev 2014, PMID 24632990).

Key findings

  • Cognitive impairment may center on processing speed and executive control.
  • Mild and major categories align severity with independence.
  • Imaging and clinical context support etiologic certainty.
  • Mixed Alzheimer pathology is explicitly recognized.

Limitations

  • Consensus criteria require prospective reliability and validity testing.
  • Causal attribution remains judgment-dependent.
  • Biomarker and imaging technology have advanced since publication.

Why it matters

It replaced an Alzheimer-shaped dementia threshold with a vascular-spectrum model and is the core conceptual anchor for this condition.

Cited by wiki pages

  • Overview
  • Nosology
  • Guidelines