Frequency and predictors of proxy-confirmed post-stroke cognitive complaints in lacunar stroke patients without major depression.

Objective: Many lacunar stroke patients complained of cognitive decline after stroke. This study aims to investigate the factors underlying post-stroke cognitive complaints in these patients.

Methods: Seventy-five consecutive lacunar stroke patients without major depression were recruited for the study. Stroke severity was measured using NIHSS score and MRI was performed during the acute admission period. At 3 months, objective psychometric performance and depressive symptoms were assessed. Post-stroke cognitive complaints were corroborated by a proxy. Using logistic regression we examined the contribution of demographic features, stroke severity, objective psychometric scores, depressive symptoms, and imaging features (white matter lesion volume and infarct measures) to post-stroke cognitive complaints.

Results: Thirty-two (42.7%) patients had post-stroke cognitive complaints. Patients with post-stroke cognitive complaints had more depressive symptoms and worse psychometric performance than those without. In the multivariate logistic regression model, only the severity of depressive symptoms was independently associated with post-stroke cognitive complaints.

Conclusions: This study suggests that post-stroke cognitive complaints are frequent among lacunar stroke patients without major depression and are prominently determined by the subclinical depressive symptomatology.