2025 Revised Criteria for Vascular Cognitive Impairment

This episode reviews the VasCog-2-WSO Criteria, which is the 2025 revised consensus diagnostic guidelines for Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID). Developed by an international consortium of experts using a Delphi consensus process, these criteria update the previous VasCog guidelines to incorporate recent advances in neuroimaging and biomarkers. The objective was to create an operationalized international standard for diagnosing VCID across preclinical, mild, and major dementia severity levels, addressing prior inconsistencies in terminology and assessment. Key updates include defining VCID as the overarching term, refining the neuroimaging criteria for establishing a vascular etiology, and introducing a category for preclinical/at-risk VCID for preventative measures. The World Stroke Organization (WSO) endorsed these criteria, which are designed to enhance diagnostic consistency for both clinicians and researchers.