Dementia in stroke survivors in the Stroke Data Bank cohort. Prevalence, incidence, risk factors, and computed tomographic findings

Abstract

We determined the prevalence of dementia in 927 patients with acute ischemic stroke aged greater than or equal to 60 years in the Stroke Data Bank cohort based on the examining neurologist's best judgment. Diagnostic agreement among examiners was 68% (kappa = 0.34). Of 726 testable patients, 116 (16%) were demented. Prevalence of dementia was related to age but not to sex, race, handedness, educational level, or employment status before the stroke. Previous stroke and previous myocardial infarction were related to prevalence of dementia although hypertension, diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation, and previous use of antithrombotic drugs were not. Prevalence of dementia was most frequent in patients with infarcts due to large-artery atherosclerosis and in those with infarcts of unknown cause. Computed tomographic findings related to prevalence of dementia included infarct number, infarct site, and cortical atrophy. Among 610 patients who were not demented at stroke onset, we used methods of survival analysis to determine the incidence of dementia occurring during the 2-year follow-up. Incidence of dementia was related to age but not sex. Based on logistic regression analysis, the probability of new-onset dementia at 1 year was 5.4% for a patient aged 60 years and 10.4% for a patient aged 90 years. With a multivariate proportional hazards model, the most important predictors of incidence of dementia were a previous stroke and the presence of cortical atrophy at stroke onset.