ABSTRACT
Objetive The present study was aimed to explore the risk factors of mid-term cognitive decline in pa?tients with indexed TIA/minor stroke (NIHSS≤3) in a Chinese hospital-based cohort. Methods We recruited all consec?utive Chinese TIA/minor stroke patients from July to December in 2012 and followed them up in stroke clinics at 3 and 18 months after indexed TIA/minor stroke. The outcome was defined as significantly cognitive decline at 18 months com?pared with that at 3 months. Results A total of 209 consecutive Chinese TIA/minor stroke cases completed their fol?low-up investigation. Among them, 24 (11.5%) exhibited significantly cognitive decline. The independent risk factors of cognitive decline post TIA/minor stroke were education years (OR=0.869,P=0.021), atrial fibrillation(OR=5.950, P=0.001) and multiple silent lacunar infarcts (OR=5.179,P=0.020). Conclusion It is necessary to evaluate the cognition among TIA/minor stroke cases and a close follow-up is required for patients with atrial fibrillation and multiple silent la?cunar infarcts frequently in order to decrease the risk of cognitive decline post TIA/minor stroke.