Brain Skills Slip After Stroke

While a number of long-term cognitive changes are associated with stroke, the extent of the initial declines and subsequent worsening over time have remained unclear.  Deborah Levine, from the University of Michigan (Michigan, USA), and colleagues observe that global cognition and executive function decrease significantly faster after a stroke, as compared to age-matched counterparts who do not have a stroke.  Interestingly, new learning and verbal memory also may drop acutely following a stroke, but generally do not appear to worsen significantly afterwards.