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Review
. 2014 Aug;2(8):80.
doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2305-5839.2014.08.05.

Post-stroke cognitive impairment: epidemiology, mechanisms and management

Jia-Hao Sun  1 , Lan Tan  1 , Jin-Tai Yu  1
Affiliations
Review

Post-stroke cognitive impairment: epidemiology, mechanisms and management

Jia-Hao Sun et al. Ann Transl Med. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Post-stroke cognitive impairment occurs frequently in the patients with stroke. The prevalence of post-stroke cognitive impairment ranges from 20% to 80%, which varies for the difference between the countries, the races, and the diagnostic criteria. The risk of post-stroke cognitive impairment is related to both the demographic factors like age, education and occupation and vascular factors. The underlying mechanisms of post-stroke cognitive impairment are not known in detail. However, the neuroanatomical lesions caused by the stroke on strategic areas such as the hippocampus and the white matter lesions (WMLs), the cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) due to the small cerebrovascular diseases and the mixed AD with stroke, alone or in combination, contribute to the pathogenesis of post-stroke cognitive impairment. The treatment of post-stroke cognitive impairment may benefit not only from the anti-dementia drugs, but also the manage measures on cerebrovascular diseases. In this review, we will describe the epidemiological features and the mechanisms of post-stroke cognitive impairment, and discuss the promising management strategies for these patients.

Keywords: Post-stroke cognitive impairment; mechanism; prevalence; risk factor; treatment.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The distribution of the post-stroke cognitive impairment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The main mechanisms on post-stroke cognitive impairment. AD, Alzheimer’s disease; WML, white matter lesion; CMB, cerebral microbleed; VCI, vascular cognitive impairment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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