Risk factors for cognitive impairment in patients with first-time ischemic stroke.

Objective: To determine the risk factors for cognitive impairment (CI) in patients with first-time ischemic stroke.

Methods: The clinical data of 180 patients with ischemic stroke who were admitted to our hospital from January 2018 to December 2019 was retrospectively analyzed. Patients with MMSE score ≤24 were included into the CI group and the rest of the patients were placed into the normal group. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to describe risk factors for CI in patients with first-time ischemic stroke.

Results: Among the patients with first-time ischemic stroke, 96 cases (53%) developed CI, 84 cases (47%) were normal. In different subtypes of TOAST classifications, patients with large-artery atherosclerosis had the highest CI incidence (66.96%). For different infarction sites, the highest CI incidence occurred in the frontal lobe (82.35%), and the lowest was from cerebellar infarction (37.50%). The difference of CI incidences in the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe was significant between the two groups (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that independent risk factors for CI in patients with first ischemic stroke include age ≥60 years old, diabetes history, CRP >6.53 mg/L, Hcy >13.84 μmol/L, NIHSS score >4.37, VD <45.16 nmol/L, and the difference was statistically significant (<0.05).

Conclusion: The study showed a high CI incidence in patients with preexisting ischemic stroke. Age ≥60 years old, history of diabetes mellitus, CRP >6.53 mg/L, Hcy >13.84 μmol/L, NIHSS score >4.37 score, VD <45.16 nmol/L are independent risk factors for CI in patients with first-time ischemic stroke.