Prestroke vascular pathology and the risk of recurrent stroke and poststroke dementia

Your doctor can tell you exactly what this 2-fold increase in dementia risk means compared to these other research results.

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

https://www.mdlinx.com/neurology/medical-news-article/2016/08/08/dementia-epidemiology-prognosis-risk-factors-stroke/6769824/
Stroke, 08/08/2016
Portegies MLP, et al.

The physicians determined the long–term risk of recurrent stroke and dementia, and the proportion of recurrent strokes and poststroke dementia cases that are attributable to prestroke cardiovascular risk factors (ie, the population attributable risk), within the population–based Rotterdam Study. The study reveal that long–term risks of recurrent stroke and poststroke dementia remain high and are significantly influenced by prestroke risk factors, emphasizing the requirement for optimizing primary prevention.

Methods

• For this study, 1237 patients were followed up with 1^st-ever stroke and 4928 stroke-free participants, matched on age, sex, examination round, and stroke date (index date), for the occurrence of stroke or dementia.
• In both groups incidence rates were calculated and estimated the individual and combined population attributable risk of prestroke cardiovascular risk factors for both outcomes.

Results

• Patients retained a 3-fold increased risk of recurrent stroke and an almost 2-fold increased risk of dementia compared with people without stroke, beyond 1 year after stroke.
• As per this study, 39% (95% confidence interval, 18%–66%) of recurrent strokes and 10% (95% confidence interval, 0%–91%) of poststroke dementia cases were attributable to prestroke cardiovascular risk factors.
• The study reveal that these percentages were similar for 1^st-ever stroke and dementia in the matched stroke-free population.

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