Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between cholinergic pathway damage and the executive dysfunction of patients with different degrees of cognitive impairment caused by cerebral white matter lesions (WML). Methods From March, 2016 to December, 2017, 115 patients were recruited, whose characteristics, such as age, gender, education, and history of hypertension, diabetes and stroke were recorded. According to the T₂-weighted MRI, 80 patients were defined as WML. WML patients were divided into cognitively normal (CN) group (n=41), vascular cognitive impairment of none dementia (VCIND) group (n=21) and vascular dementia (VaD) group (n=18) according to the result of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). Other 35 cases without WML and cognitive impairment were as control group. WML under MRI were evaluated with Cholinergic Pathways Hyperintensities Scale (CHIPS). All the WML patients were assessed with Stroop Color-Word Test, Trail Making Test, Symbol Digital Modalities Test, and Verbal Fluence Test. The correlation between the scores of CHIPS and the executive tests were analysed. Results There was no significant difference in age, gender, level of education, and cardiovascular disease risk factors among four groups (P>0.05), but there were significant differences in scores of MoCA and CHIPS (F>25.781, P<0.001), while the score of MoCA was the least (P<0.01) and the scores of CHIPS were the most in VaD group (P<0.001). The CHIPS scores of left and bilateral hemisphere negatively correlated with all the scores of executive tests (P<0.05), while that of the right hemisphere just correlated with the scores of some executive tests (P<0.05).Conclusion For cognitive impairment after WML, cholinergic pathway damage may relate with the executive function impairment, especially the damage in left cerebral hemisphere.

Key words: cerebral white matter lesion, cognitive impairment, cholinergic pathway, executive function