अमूर्त

Clinical factors affecting poststroke dementia.

Boller Forbes

 Dementia after a stroke occurs frequently, and dementia risk after a stroke is significantly higher. We still don't fully understand the stroke-related risk factors for dementia. In a sizable, clearly defined stroke cohort, we aimed to investigate clinical factors that contribute to post stroke dementia. The study group consisted of 337 of 486 consecutive patients, aged 55 to 85, who underwent a thorough neuropsychological test battery and MRI three months after having an ischemic stroke. This included structured medical, neurological, and laboratory evaluations; clinical mental status examinations; informant interviews; detailed histories of risk factors; and assessments of stroke type, localization, and syndrome. The DSM-III dementia definition was applied. Dementia after any stroke occurred 31.8% of the time, dementia related to stroke occurred 28.4% of the time, and dementia following a first stroke occurred 28.9% of the time. Patients with post stroke dementia tended to be older and less educated, and more frequently had a history of previous cerebrovascular disease and strokes, left hemisphere stroke, major dominant stroke syndrome, dysphasia, gait impairment, and urine incontinence. In addition, compared to non-demented stroke patients, the demented patients were more frequently current smokers, had lower arterial blood pressure readings, and more frequently experienced an orthostatic reaction