STROKE-COGNITIVE RECOVERY

SUMMARY

1. 16-20% of patients with cognitive impairment improve.

2. While most improvements occur in the first 3 months, recovery may continue for at least the first year post-stroke.

3. Attention and speed of thought were the most impaired domains at < 1 month after stroke, but had the greatest trend for improvement.

4. Perceptual skill impairment showed a high prevalence of impairment in the acute stage.

5. Cumming et al. notes that, “At one year post-stroke, a majority of patients still had attention deficits, while deficits in language and memory were more likely to have resolved (2013)”.

6. Mortality rates among stroke patients with dementia are 2-6x greater than those without.

Reference(s)

Wilkinson, I., Furmedge, D. and Sinharay, R. (2017). Oxford handbook of clinical medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Get it on Amazon.
Feather, A., Randall, D. and Waterhouse, M. (2020). Kumar And Clark’s Clinical Medicine. 10th ed. S.L.: Elsevier Health Sciences. Get it on Amazon.
Hannaman, R. A., Bullock, L., Hatchell, C. A., & Yoffe, M. (2016). Internal medicine review core curriculum, 2017-2018. CO Springs, CO: MedStudy.
Therapeutic Guidelines. Melbourne: Therapeutic Guidelines Limited. https://www.tg.org.au [Accessed 2021].