Abstract Body: Introduction:
Vascular cognitive impairment and vascular dementia are diagnosed based on brain vascular changes related to strokes. However, the change in cognitive function in the same individual before and after strokes is not well-documented especially among Hispanics. We examined the intra-individual cognitive performance before and after an incident stroke in a longitudinal cohort of Hispanics (Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC)). CCHC participants were recruited randomly for reasons other than strokes and were followed every 5 years for up to 20 years.
Methods:
We conducted a prospective study to measure cognitive function changes among those presented with incident stroke. Strokes were self-reported and we used mini-mental score test (MMSE) to asses for cognitive impairment at each visit. Incident strokes were identified after excluding all those who reported the presence of a stroke at their first visit. We measured intra-individual cognitive performance via paired student t-test by comparing MMSE scores before and after incident stroke in the same individual. We conducted a prospective longitudinal study using mixed linear models adjusted for age and education to assess for associations of MMSE scores with several cardiometabolic indicators among those who had an incident stroke. All analyses were preformed using R software.
Results:
We identified 87 incident strokes (total N=4692) in the CCHC. Subjects with strokes had a mean (sd) age of 61.4 (13.9) and a mean (sd) MMSE score of 26.7 (4.47). Over half of the subjects with strokes were females (55 (63.2%)), diabetic (44 (50.6%)), hypertensive (58 (66.7%)), and had metabolic syndrome (44 (50.6%)). Although the mean (median) MMSE scores for after strokes (25.50(27.00)) were lower compared to pre strokes (26.16(28.00); there were no statistically significant changes in the intra-individual MMSE scores before and after strokes (p value >.05). Mixed linear models adjusted for age and education showed that diabetes (Beta: -1.4, 95%CI: - 0.14 - -2.73) to be significantly associated with a lower cognition function in those with strokes.
Conclusions:
Although there were no significant changes in intra-individual MMSE scores before and after a stroke; our adjusted models showed that diabetes was significantly associated with a lower cognitive function among our stroke cohort. The use of self-reported strokes, and our small sample size might bias our results towards the null.