Stroke and Implications for Brain Health

Cerebrovascular disease-related vascular cognitive impairment is the second most common cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease [1]. Poststroke cognitive impairment and dementia (PSCID), on the other hand, is one of the most common causes of vascular cognitive impairment. In a large meta-analysis, PSCID rates ranged from 7.4% in population-based studies of first-ever stroke in which prestroke dementia was excluded to 41.3% in hospital-based studies of recurrent stroke in which prestroke dementia was included [2]. Approximately 10% of patients will develop dementia after the first stroke, and more than 33% have dementia after recurrent stroke [2].