Efficacy of Electrical Acupuncture on Vascular Cognitive Impairment with No Dementia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Inclusion criteria: 1. Patients aged 45‐80 who signed informed consent and 2. complaint or are reported of cognitive decline; 3. obtain the following results in the neuropsychological assessment: MoCA score <26 and clinical dementia rating scale (CDR) score = 0.5 (which indicates suspected dementia); 4. fail to meet the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM‐IV) diagnostic criteria for dementia; 5. develop cognitive disorders under cerebrovascular disease and certain risk factors that meet the following criteria: (1) a history of transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke in the recent half of the year, with the modified Rankin scale (mRS) score=3; (2) risk factors for cerebrovascular disease, such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia or smoking; (3) certain symptoms or signs caused by cerebrovascular disease; (4) imaging evidence support cerebrovascular disease; (5) Hachinski ischemic score (HIS)> 7 points. Exclusion criteria: 1. perform progressive memory impairment in the early stage or other cognitive dysfunction (such as aphasia, loss, misconduct) with no imaging evidence support for corresponding lesions; 2. cognitive disorders caused by factors other than cerebrovascular diseases (including central nervous system inflammatory demyelinating disease, epilepsy, psychosis, liver and kidney dysfunction, hypothyroidism, alcoholic encephalopathy or drug abuse); 3. with severe visual acuity, hearing impairment, severe aphasia or limb dysfunction which may affect pre‐assessment; 4. HIS score <4. Vascular Cognitive Impairment with No Dementia 1:Acupuncture;2:sham acupuncture; The MoCA test; ERP;Modified Barthel scale (MBS);