Vascular cognitive impairment in patients with late-onset seizures after an ischemic stroke

Background Cognitive impairment and seizures are both common conditions in patients with cerebrovascular disease. Purpose The present study investigates whether the occurrence of late-onset seizures, following an ischemic stroke, contributes to vascular cognitive impairment. Patients and methods The mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the median modified Rankin (mR) scores were compared between 125 patients who developed late-onset seizures (66 with a single seizure and 59 with repeated seizures or epilepsy) following an ischemic stroke and 125 patients who did not during, at least, a 2-year follow-up. Results There were no differences in age, gender, etiology and degree of neurological impairment on admission for their stroke between the groups with and without seizures. Although the mean MMSE score was similar between both groups the median mR score was significantly higher in the seizure patients. Comparing the patients with a single seizure to the non-seizure ones showed the same results. On the other hand, comparison of the patients with epilepsy to the non-seizure group revealed, in addition to the higher median mR score, a significantly lower mean MMSE score in the former group. Conclusion Repeated seizures following an ischemic stroke promote vascular cognitive impairment.