Poststroke dementia predicts poor survival in long-term follow-up: influence of prestroke cognitive decline and previous stroke.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of poststroke dementia on long-term survival after acute stroke and also to assess the possible influence of prestroke cognitive decline and previous stroke on this relationship. Methods: A total of 451 consecutive patients with acute ischaemic stroke admitted to hospital were included in the study and followed up for 12 years. Dementia was diagnosed 3 months after stroke in 115 patients (25.5%). Results: In Kaplan–Meier analysis, poststroke dementia predicted poor long-term survival (5.1 years vs 8.8 years in patients who did not have poststroke dementia; p Conclusions: Long-term follow-up of our large well-defined poststroke cohort indicated that in patients with acute stroke, dementia is a significant predictor of poor long-term survival and death from brain-associated causes. Prestroke cognitive decline seems to have an additional negative influence on survival, but previous stroke does not seem to affect survival.