Schellhorn T, Zucknick M, Askim T, et al. - In this Norwegian cognitive impairment after stroke (Nor-COAST) study, a prospective longitudinal multi-centre cohort study, researchers sought to measure pre-stroke neurodegenerative and vascular disease burden found on brain MRI and to evaluate the relationship between pre-stroke imaging pathology and pre-stroke cognitive impairment (PCI), whilst also looking for potential gender differences. Patients from five participating stroke units were hospitalized with acute ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. In total, 410 patients [mean (SD) age 73.6 (±11) years] were involved in the study. Stroke patients frequently have pre-stroke chronic brain pathology, with men having a higher prevalence. PCI is linked to vascular pathology and mixed pathology. There were no significant gender differences in PCI risk.