Frequency and clinical determinants of poststroke cognitive impairment in nondemented stroke patients

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence and clinical correlates of poststroke cognitive impairment in Chinese stroke patients in Hong Kong. One hundred seventy-nine stroke patients were interviewed by a psychiatrist 3 months after their stroke. Cognitive impairment was determined according to the Mini-Mental State Examination score. Thirty-nine participants (21.8%) had cognitive impairment. Univariate analysis found that cognitive impairment was associated with age, female sex, level of education, previous stroke, prestroke Rankin score, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale dysarthria and total scores, urinary incontinence, and cerebral atrophy index. Multivariate logistic regression suggested that female sex, education, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale dysarthria score, urinary incontinence, and atrial fibrillation were independent risk factors of poststroke cognitive impairment. After removal of 54 patients with previous stroke from the sample, the frequency of cognitive impairment decreased to 18.4%. It was concluded that cognitive impairment is common among nondemented Chinese stroke patients in Hong Kong.