Abstract WP208: Post-stroke Cognitive Impairment And The Risk Of Recurrent Stroke And Death: A Systematic Review

Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) occurs in 20%-40% of stroke patients and was reported to be a risk factor of recurrent stroke and death. However, to date, no systematic review and meta-analysis exists to precisely estimate the associated risk. The goal of the current study was to conduct a systematic review of published literature on the association between PSCI and risk of recurrent stroke and death. We searched Ovid MEDLINE and Scopus for studies published from 1992 to 2019, combining the following keywords: post-stroke cognitive impairment, risk of stroke recurrence, mortality, post-stroke dementia. Of the 929 references, we identified 23 studies (n=28,305 patients) that met eligibility criteria. The time of PSCI diagnosis ranged from 7 days to 6 months, and 3-month after stroke was the most common time point of neuropsychological testing. The majority (65%, 15/23) of these studies evaluated PSCI mortality endpoint (n = 23,554), while 35% (8/23) looked at combined endpoint of recurrent stroke and death (n= 4,751). In mortality studies, 86% (13/15) showed significantly higher risk of death in PSCI patients compared to those without it (OR/HR/RR range from 1.42 to 7.42). In the two largest studies (n=8,822 and n=6,504), the adjusted HR were 1.42 (1.34-1.50) and RR 2.0 (1.3-3.2) respectively. Only 14% (2/15) of the studies showed negative results. However, one negative study [HR: 1.00 (0.79-1.86)] included a large cohort (n=3,948). In recurrence studies, 75% (6/8) reported higher risk with OR/HR/RR ranging from 1.48 to 4.86. Subgroup analyses in the two largest recurrence clinical trial studies (n=1,528 and n=1,240) reported HR 1.48 (1.04-2.09) and OR 2.32 (1.10-4.89). No association between PSCI and recurrent stroke was found in 25% (2/8) of recurrence studies including those with n=458 [HR 1.74 (0.89-3.39)] and n=202 patients [RR 1.25 (0.47-3.33)].This systematic review revealed about a 0.5 to 7 times increased risk of recurrent stroke and death in patients with PSCI suggesting that PSCI might be a marker predicting recurrent events in secondary stroke prevention. A meta-analysis is warranted to increase the precision and validity of risk estimates of PSCI and study the bases for differences across studies.