Background and Purpose-Since the Vascular Cognitive Impairment Harmonization Standards (VCIHS) neuropsychologicaltest protocol was proposed by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Canadian Stroke Network, no studies have applied this neuropsychological protocol to poststroke survivors in a large-scale, multicenter stroke cohort. We determined the frequency of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) and investigated the feasibility of using the Korean version of the VCIHS neuropsychological protocol in a multicenter, hospital-based stroke cohort in Korea. Methods-We prospectively enrolled 620 subjects with ischemic stroke within 7 days of symptom onset among 899 patients who were consecutively admitted to 12 university hospitals in Korea. Neuropsychological assessments using the 60-minute Korean VCIHS neuropsychological protocol were administered at 3 months after stroke. Results-Of the 620 patients, 506 were followed up at 3 months after stroke. Of these, 353 (69.8%) were evaluated for cognitive function using the 60-minute Korean VCIHS neuropsychological protocol. The frequency of VCI at 3 months was 62.6%: VCI with no dementia in 49.9% and vascular dementia in 12.7%. Old age (P=0.014), poor functional outcomes at 3 months (P=0.029), and stroke subtypes other than small vessel disease (P=0.004) were independent risk factors of VCI. Conclusions-VCI, evaluated using the Korean VCIHS neuropsychological protocol, is substantial at 3 months after ischemic stroke in Korea. The use of the 60-minute Korean VCIHS neuropsychological protocol was feasible in largescale multicenter studies.

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Objectives:In Korea, stroke ranks as one of the leading causes of death along with cancer and ischemic heart disease. The purpose of this study was to better understand clinical characteristics, risk factors and subtypes of acute stroke among Korean people. Method: 1,654 acute stroke patients within 7 days of onset were consecutively enrolled in the Hallym Stroke Registry (HSR). The study was a prospective hospital-based registry aided with a web-based, computerized data bank system. The project began in January 1996 and the data obtained until September 2002 were analyzed. The analysis was basically carried out regarding demographic features, risk factors, time elapsed before coming to the hospitals after the symptom onset, duration of hospitalization, and 30-day mortality rate. Results: 1,567 patients had ischemic stroke and 87 patients had hemorrhagic stroke. The mean age of the patients was 63.6 ± 11.8 years, and 815 patients (56.8%) were men. The estimated time interval between stroke onset and hospital visit was 1.3 days on average and the mean duration of hospital stay was 12.1 days. Only a small fraction (12%) of patients reached the hospital within 3 h after the symptom onset. As for the risk factors, hypertension topped for both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes followed by smoking and prior history of stroke, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and cardioembolism. With respect to subtype classification of ischemic stroke, large-artery atherosclerosis was most frequent (42.0%), followed by small-vessel occlusion (31.0%), cardioembolism (8.7%), other determined etiology (1.9%), and undetermined etiology (16.4%). The 30-day mortality rate was 7.2%. Conclusion: In the HSR, demographic features were essentially comparable with other major registries. However, the data analysis varies from registry to registry. This may in part be due to a different study design, racial-ethnic differences and patient selection methods.