Lo JW, Crawford JD, Desmond DW, et al. - In stroke patients, faster cognitive decline than stroke-free controls was observed from 1 to 3 years post-onset. Factors such as older age and recurrent stroke were found to be linked with an increased rate of cognitive decline.

• Analysis of nine longitudinal hospital-based cohorts from 7 countries was conducted; 1,488 patients (mean age, 66.3 years; SD, 11.1; 98% ischemic stroke) were observed for a median of 2.68 years (25th–75th percentile: 1.21–4.14 years).

• In this study using individual participant data from the Stroke and Cognition Consortium, an initial period of improvement through up to 1-year poststroke was witnessed, thereafter decline was evident in global cognition as well as in all domains except executive function post-adjustment (−0.053 SD/year; P<0.001 for global cognition).

• Stroke patients experienced significantly faster cognitive decline than controls (difference=−0.078 SD/year [95% CI, −0.11 to −0.045]; P<0.001 for global cognition in a subgroup analysis).