BACKGROUND: Defined as an acquired deterioration in cognitive abilities that impairs the successful performance of activities of daily living, dementia usually develops among patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), Vascular dementia (Vd) is the second most common cause of dementia after Alzheimers Disease (AD) and is thought to be due to impaired blood supply to the brain and divided into different types namely, post-stroke dementia, multi-infarct dementia, and mixed cortical and sub-cortical vascular dementia. Chronic hypertension is reported to cause sub-cortical type of vascular dementia which is usually asymptomatic detectable only by cranial CT scan and Magnetic Resonance Imaging techniques.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the presence of vascular dementia in asymptomatic chronic hypertensive patients using the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) and compare the MMSE scores and completion time of chronic hypertensive patients with that of non-hypertensive individuals.

METHODS: Prospective cross-sectional analytical study conducted between October 15 to November 18, 2006, at Iloilo Mission Hospital, among non hypertensive and hypertensive patients. Patients with history of stroke, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, drug or alcohol intoxication, head trauma, and known endocrine, metabolic, neoplastic, psychiatric disorders; those with BP > 150/100 mm Hg during the examination and those with less than seven years of education were excluded in the study.

RESULTS: A total of 46 patients were included in the study, 23 patients were diagnosed to have chronic hypertension. There is significant difference in the mean MMSE scores and mean completion time between chronic hypertensive and non hypertensive patients.

CONCLUSION: MMSE is a cost-effective screening tool for the presence of vascular dementia. A similar study using a larger sample size is recommended.