Objective:To explore the relationship between heat shock protein 70(HSP70) and vascular cognitive impairment(VCI).Methods:181 patients were divided into not cognitively impaired (NCI,n=52)and VCI (n=129) groups.Cognitive function and serum HSP70 levels in two groups were tested by Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),respectively. Results:The serum HSP70 levels in the NCI and VCI groups were 11.29±2.66 ng/ml and 19.92±5.98 ng/ml,respectively,and there were significant differences(P < 0.01).The correlation analysis revealed that the serum HSP70 levels were negatively correlated with the total MoCA scores(r=-0.742,P < 0.01);Multivariable linear regression showed that the seium HSP70 levels were also negatively correlated with the memory scores,the visuospatial/executive scores and the orientation scores in the VCI groups. Conclusions:HSP70 may be used as the biochemical indicator for observing vascular cognitive impairment.