The purpose of this study is to find the change in post-stroke cognitive function during subacute phase, and to investigate factors associated with this change.

The cognitive function was evaluated using Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) at the beginning of rehabilitation (mean 23.1 ± 12.6 days after onset) and discharge (mean 88.1 ± 29.8 days after onset) in 56 stroke patients. At the same time functional status was also evaluated using modified Rankin Scale (mRS), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and modified Barthel Index (MBI). Then we compared the improvements of MMSE scores between two time period according to age, sex, stroke profile, and initial functional status. We also determined the correlation between cognitive and functional gain.

MMSE scores improved from rehabilitation start to discharge (3.14 ± 5.4, p = 0.000). MMSE scores improved more when patients were male, older than 65 years, and had hemorrhagic and cortical lesions (p<0.05). And, MMSE scores improved more when patients had a higher functional level initially (mRS≤2, NIHSS≤1, MBI≥75), (p<0.05) and improvement of MMSE score was significantly correlated with initial MBI score (r = 0.351, p<0.05 ).

Cognitive function recovered during subacute phase of stroke, and improvement of cognitive function at this phase were associated with sex, age, stroke profiles, initial functional status. These results would provide us an information to plan cognitive rehabilitation in these patients.