Dementia Risk Escalates With the Number and Severity of Strokes

Preliminary research to be presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2021 found that ischemic stroke elevates dementia risk, which increases with the number and severity of strokes, reports News-Medical . The authors analyzed health data of nearly 15,800 adults 45 to 64 years old at baseline from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. They applied follow-up data from 30 years of the ARIC database to determine that the risk of dementia in individuals who had at least one ischemic stroke was twice as high than for those with no stroke. Moreover, adults who had one stroke were nearly 80 percent more likely to have dementia than those with no stroke. That risk rose 8.5 times for people who had three or more strokes during the study period, while the risk of dementia was almost five times higher among those with severe stroke than for those with minor stroke. "Our study uniquely characterizes the link between stroke and dementia and sets the stage for prevention strategies aimed at reducing the risk of dementia after a stroke," said Tel Aviv University's Silvia Koton.