Pridection of cognitive dysfunction in the early outcome after acute stroke

Background Stroke is a critical disorder that affects ~13.7 million people worldwide each year. Patients who suffer from a stroke frequently develop abnormalities in cognitive abilities. Aim We aimed to study the factors and parameters through which we can predict the occurrence of cognitive impairment in patients suffering an acute stroke. Patients and methods A prospective cohort study included 60 acute cerebral stroke patients who attended Neuropsychiatry Department of Tanta University Hospital. All the patients were examined by using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), verbal fluency, and clock drawing test twice, once in the early few days after the stroke and the other at three months after stroke onset for evaluation of the cognition. Results In the first visit, poststroke cognitive assessment (in the early few days after stroke) using Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MMSE, verbal fluency and clock drawing tests, hypertension, high severity of the stroke, increasing age, dyslipidemia, ischemic type of stroke, male gender were the significant risk factors for the early cognitive dysfunction while in the second visit, dyslipidemia, hypertension, increasing severity of the stroke and increasing age were the significant risk factors for the late cognitive dysfunction by 3 months after stroke onset. Conclusion Poststroke cognitive function was assessed using Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MMSE, and Verbal Fluency Tests at two-time points. The study found that advanced age, hypertension, large stroke size, higher stroke severity, and female sex were significant risk factors for poststroke cognitive dysfunction.