Dynamic Trajectory of Long-Term Cognitive Improvement Up to 10 Years in Young Community-Dwelling Stroke Survivors: A Cohort Study.

The trajectories of long-term and domain-specific cognitive alterations over a decade after stroke are largely unknown. This study aims to investigate the dynamic alterations of domain-specific cognitive performance among young stroke survivors over 10 years after their first stroke. A prospective cohort study was carried out on 38 young stroke survivors (aged 18-65 at stroke onset) living in the community at 10 years after their first stroke. The cognitive outcomes were assessed repeatedly at 1 week, 7 months, and 10 years after their first stroke on the sub-domains: process speed , visual attention , visuospatial function , executive function (), verbal function , working memory (), immediate memory (), and delayed memory (). Global cognition was evaluated with Mini mental state examination at the two later time-points. We found a delayed significant improvement of working memory with total recovery 10 years after participants' stroke. Visuospatial function recovered already at 7 months and remained stable at 10-year follow-up. Process speed demonstrated a significant decrease at 10 years compared to 7 months after stroke onset, a decrease which could be compensated by enhancements of other cognitive domains. No further deterioration was found in verbal function, immediate-, and delayed memory, and executive function during 10-year follow-up. Global cognition improved by on average two points between 7 months and 10 years. Education level and fatigue showed low to moderate positive correlations with cognitive improvements. The concordance of cognitive improvements between domain-specific and global cognitions strongly suggest that some young stroke survivors do improve their cognitive outcome over a 10-year period following their first stroke. This finding fills a gap of knowledge with respect to the dynamic trajectory of post-stroke cognition, with important implications in clinical practice.