Background and purpose: It was recently reported that the prevalence of poststroke memory dysfunction might be higher than previously thought. Stroke may exist concomitantly with underlying Alzheimer's disease (AD), and so we determined whether post-stroke memory dysfunction indicates manifestation of underlying subclinical AD.
Methods: Of 1201 patients in a prospective cognitive assessment database, we enrolled subjects with poststroke amnestic vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia (aVCIND; n=48), poststroke nonamnestic vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia (naVCIND; n=50), and nonstroke amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI; n=65). All subjects had cognitive deficits, but did not meet the criteria for dementia. A standardized neuropsychological test battery and magnetic resonance imaging were performed at least 90 days after the index stroke (mean, 473 days). Visual assessment of medial temporal atrophy (MTA) was used as a measure of underlying AD pathology.
Results: The MTA score was significantly lower in the naVCIND group (0.64±0.85, mean±SD) than in the aVCIND (1.10±1.08) and aMCI (1.45±1.13; p<0.01) groups. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that compared with naVCIND, aVCIND [odds ratio (OR)=2.69; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.21-5.99] and aMCI (OR=5.20; 95% CI=2.41-11.23) were significantly associated with increasing severity of MTA.
Conclusions: Our findings show that compared with poststroke naVCIND, the odds of having more-severe MTA were increased for poststroke aVCIND and nonstroke aMCI.
Keywords: memory dysfunction; poststroke dementia; stroke; vascular cognitive impairment.