Post-stroke cognitive impairment at 3 months

Abstract

Background:Vascular cognitive impairment, being the only treatable cause of dementia in the early stages, and having a diverse etiology, requires sensitive criteria for definition.Aim:This study aimed to study cognitive functions at 3 months post-stroke, utilising the Mini mental scale examination (MMSE) and the Frontal assessment battery (FAB), and to correlate the same with subgroups of ischemic stroke.Results:164 patients were studied, 108 of these having multiple infarcts. Pure cortical infarcts were seen in 41 patients. At 3 months, 112/164 patients had MMSE more than 24, with no frontal executive dysfunction. MMSE score less than 24 was seen in 24 patients, all of them having FAB score below 10. Normal MMSE with impaired FAB was seen in 28 patients.Conclusions:Impairment on either the MMSE or the FAB was thus seen in 31.7% patients (52/164), at 3 months after stroke. FAB impairment alone, with MMSE in normal range, was seen in 28/52 (53.8%) patients. Memory was significantly more commonly affected in muti-infarct strokes as compared to single infarcts. Frontal executive dysfunction was not significantly different when single and multiple infarcts, or cortical and subcortical infarcts, were compared.

Considerations and strategies for educating stroke patients with neurological deficits

“…Injuries to any part of the brain involved in processing or storage of memory can significant impair memory and learning. As many as 30% of stroke survivors, have some level of memory impairment [21] .…”

“…Since attention is required for effective learning and rehabilitation, attention deficits can negatively impact secondary prevention and recovery as well as lead to memory impairment post stroke. Though less common than attention deficits, memory impairment may be seen in as much as 30% of stroke survivors [21,57] . Arvanitakis, Leurgans, Barnes, Bennett, and Schneider found that patients with mulitple cortical or micro-infarcts were more susceptible to global cognitive decline and deficits in semantic and episodic memory than those without these deficits [66] .…”

Effect of Exercise on Oxidative Stress in Neurological Disorders

“…Thus, the occurrence of a second stroke is a powerful predictor of dementia. The prevalence of cognitive impairment is even higher: 50 % of individuals exhibit deficits when assessed 3 months post-stroke (Sundar and Adwani 2010). Collective evidence suggests that stroke-mediated neuronal injury can therefore initiate rapid decline in cognitive function.…”

Stroke and cognitive disorders

“…По данным независимых друг от друга ев-ропейских, австралийских, индийских, турецких и китай-ских исследователей, частота деменции в первые месяцы после инсульта составляет 20-30%. Еще в не менее чем 30% случаев отмечаются КН, выходящие за рамки возрастной нормы, но не достигающие выраженности деменции [10][11][12][13][14][15]. S.T.…”