Correlates of informant-rated cognitive decline after stroke

Cognitive impairment is common after stroke, but measurement is problematic . Six tests of mental ability, unaffected by loss of limb function, were ad ministered to 49 subjects of mean age 74.2 years at a median of 4.3 years ( range 0.1-16.8) after stroke together with a depression score and the IOCOD E, an informant-rated scale of estimated cognitive decline. Over 90% of str oke patients were able to complete most tests. IOCODE correlated significan tly with the HADS depression score (r = 0.35, p = 0.040), the 2-year Barthe l score (r = -0.60, p = 0.001) and with a general cognitive factor extracte d from the mental ability test scores (r =-0.42, p = 0.016). We con elude t hat informant-rated methods offer a promising approach to measuring cogniti ve decline after stroke. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.