Cardiometabolic Disease and Brain Damage

Over the last decades, the overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS), obesity, and type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has increased alarmingly in the general population worldwide. Importantly, these conditions are closely interrelated since they share a cluster of common pathophysiological mechanisms, all of which commonly lead to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including cerebrovascular disease. In fact, stroke, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia constitute prominent cerebrovascular complications that are closely associated with MetS, obesity, and T2DM. The present chapter shortly reviews the pathophysiology of brain damage in patients with MetS, obesity, and T2DM. In addition, a more extensive analysis of the impact of the aforementioned metabolic conditions on the incidence of stroke, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia is presented and discussed.