Objective To explore the relationship of cognitive impairment and depression in subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD).Methods Neuropsychological scales were used to investigate the level of cognitive impairment and depression syndrome.According to the diagnostic criteria,the participants were divided into three groups:non-cognitive impairment group (SIVD-NCI),mild cognitive impairment group (SIVD-MCI),and dement group (SIVD-D).Depending on the clinical syndrome and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS),the participants were divided into depression group and non-depression group.The interaction of cognitive impairment and depression was analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA).Results The main effect of cognitive impairment was significant in all the Cambridge Cognitive Examination-Chinese version (CAMCOG-C) subscales,while the major function of depression in most of the CAMCOG-C subscales.The interaction of cognitive impairment and depression was significant only in executive function (F =6.835,P =0.001),attention (F =3.126,P =0.047),language (F =3.352,P =0.038) and comprehension of language (F =5.324,P =0.006).The interaction of cognitive impairment and depression was significant in executive function(F =14.255,P =0.000) and comprehension of language (F =3.971,P =0.049) between SIVD-NCI group and SIVD-MCI group while in attention (F =4.918,P =0.030) between SIVD-MCI group and SIVD-D group.Conclusions Patients of SIVD have varying degrees of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms.Those with depression symptoms have more cognitive impairment than non-depressed patients.Cognitive impairment and depression show interaction in different subscales of cognitive function in different time.