ABSTRACT
The detrimental effects of chronic cardiovascular disease (CVD) on the brain and neurocognitive functions have increasingly been recognized over the past decade. Heart failure (HF), among the most severe and debilitating manifestations of CVD, occurs when the heart has experienced significant structural damage and is no longer capable of pumping blood effectively. HF involves a broad and complex cascade of physiological changes that result in diminished cardiac, vascular, and renal function. HF often involves reductions in the perfusion of blood from the heart to other organ systems, resulting in cerebral hypoperfusion. Cerebral hypoperfusion is thought to be a mechanism by which brain dysfunction can develop among people who have chronic vascular disease, but have not experienced stroke. Accordingly, HF represents an important neuropsychological topic, particularly when considering vascular bases of brain dys-function. The chapters in this volume dealing with subclinical vascular disease and cognition (Chapter 11), cardiovascular disease and cognition (Chapter 12), vascular cognitive impairment (Chapter 15), and cardiovascular risk factors and dementia (Chapter 16) are particularly relevant to the present chapter (Merino & Hachinski, 2015; Qiu & Fratiglioni, 2015; Stroobant, Elias, & Goodell, 2015; Wendell & Waldstein, 2015).
