DEMENTIA AFTER ISCHEMIC STROKE - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY IN ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA (1960-1984)

Article abstract-We used the medical records linkage system for the po pulation of Rochester, Minnesota, to identify persons in the community who had their first cerebral infarct without previous dementia. In th is cohort (n = 971), the incidence of dementia in the first year was n ine times greater than expected, but if we did not observe dementia in the first year, the risk of dementia in the cohort each year thereaft er was about twice the risk in the population, After the first year, a 50% increase was observed in Alzheimer's disease in the cohort compar ed with that in the community, Although the incidence of dementia incr eased with increasing age, the standardized morbidity ratios decreased with increasing age. Age, sex (male), and second stroke were signific ant independent predictors of dementia in a multivariate Cox proportio nal hazards model. There was no effect of location or clinical severit y of infarct on the rate of occurrence of dementia.