LONG TERM PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF STROKE (OX-CHRONIC): A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF COGNITION IN RELATION TO MOOD AND FATIGUE AFTER STROKE: PROTOCOL

ABSTRACT Background The long-term psychological consequences of stroke and how cognitive problems change over time after the first-year following stroke remain unclear. Particularly, trajectories of domain-specific and domain-general cognitive functions and how cognition interacts with mood, fatigue, and quality of life are not well described. Aims To determine the prevalence, trajectories and wider impact of domain specific cognitive impairment in long term stroke survivors, in relation to mood, fatigue, and quality of life. Methods Participants who previously took part in the Oxford Cognitive Screening study, completed the 6-month follow up with cognitive, mood, fatigue, and quality of life assessments and agreed to be contacted for future research will be recruited into OX-CHRONIC. The eligible cohort is between 2- and 9-years post stroke. Cognition will be assessed with a detailed neuropsychological battery, alongside questionnaire measures of mood, fatigue, activities of daily life and quality of life measures at two timepoints, one year apart. Additionally, medical records will be accessed to extract further clinical information about the stroke and patients may opt-in to wear an activity monitor for one week to provide fine-grained measures of sleep and activity. The study protocol and study materials were approved by the national ethics committee (REC Ref:19/SC/0520). Planned outputs OX-CHRONIC will provide detailed data on the evolving cognitive profiles of stroke survivors over several years post-stroke. Estimates of long-term prevalence as well as the effect of changes in cognitive profiles on mood, fatigue and quality of life will be examined. This Study is funded by a Priority Programme Grant from the Stroke Association (SA PPA 18/100032).