Cognitive and Emotional Impairment After Stroke

Cognitive and emotional symptoms are often seen in the acute phase of a stroke. The prevalence of such symptoms later and the mechanisms explaining the symptoms are not fully known. The causes of poststroke dementia are likely to be multifactorial (Cerebrovascular Diseases 2006). The investigators want to include all patients with first ever stroke without significant cognitive decline prior to the stroke (IQCODE cut-off 3,7) and follow them up for one year. At baseline we will make stroke classifications, measure neurological deficits according to NIHSS, evaluate cognitive and emotional function and make registrations of vascular risk factors, including precerebral color duplex scan with measurement of IMT in CCA. The investigators will then randomize the patients into multifactorial vascular-risk-factor-intervention in the hospital or care as usual in the primary health care. 8-12 months after stroke onset, survivors will undergo new examinations to evaluate neurological, cognitive and emotional functions, as well as MRI and SPECT.