Stroke happens when blood flow to your brain is interrupted, and cells are damaged or die as a result. This damage can lead to dementia. And it happens more than you may think. Shockingly, having a stroke more than doubles your risk of developing dementia.
Stroke (infarction) blocking a brain artery.
Strokes that block a brain artery usually cause a range of symptoms that may include vascular dementia. But some strokes don't cause any noticeable symptoms. These silent strokes still increase dementia risk.
Almost a quarter of people who have had a stroke will go on to develop dementia after about three to six months.
Current evidence suggests that 25–30% of ischaemic stroke survivors develop immediate or delayed vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) or vascular dementia (VaD). Dementia after stroke injury may encompass all types of cognitive disorders.
Vascular dementia happens when the blood supply to parts of your brain becomes reduced. This can be due to blood vessels being clogged, a stroke or a series of small strokes. Over time, areas of brain cells stop working, leading to symptoms of dementia.
What Is the Outlook for Stroke-Related Dementia? At this time, there is no known cure for vascular dementia. While treatment can stop or slow the worsening of symptoms, or even improve them in some cases, the damage done to the brain by a stroke cannot be reversed.
Cognitive impairment no dementia is a potentially reversible condition; approximately 16%–20% of elderly stroke patients with cognitive impairment improve during follow-up. However, cognitive impairment no dementia is associated with poor poststroke prognosis in terms of functional independence and survival.
How Does a Stroke Impact Life Expectancy? Despite the likelihood of making a full recovery, life expectancy after stroke incidents can decrease. Unfortunately, researchers have observed a wide range of life expectancy changes in stroke patients, but the average reduction in lifespan is nine and a half years.
Problems with memory and thinking (cognitive problems) are very common after a stroke. They are most common soon after a stroke and like many effects of stroke, the fastest recovery takes place in the days and weeks after a stroke. But recovery can continue for months or years.
A 2021 study found that about 66% of stroke victims survived past the three-year mark. 7 Survival factors included: The person's age.
Brain Damage Occurs Within Minutes From The Onset Of A Stroke, Study Reveals. Summary: Harmful changes to the brain's synaptic connections occur within the first three minutes following a stroke. The finding, using mouse models, suggests cardiac arrest and stroke in humans would trigger a similar chain of events.
Many people have problems with their memory after a stroke, especially in the first weeks and months. It often affects short-term memory more than long-term. Someone might find it hard to remember something they have just been told. but might recall something that happened ten years ago.
Alzheimer's disease.
This is the most common cause of dementia.
Even after surviving a stroke, you're not out of the woods, since having one makes it a lot more likely that you'll have another. In fact, of the 795,000 Americans who will have a first stroke this year, 23 percent will suffer a second stroke.
And many who survive one report that their brain never works like it once did. But new research shows that these problems with memory and thinking ability keep getting worse for years afterward – and happen faster than normal brain aging.
Recovery time after a stroke is different for everyone—it can take weeks, months, or even years. Some people recover fully, but others have long-term or lifelong disabilities.
We showed that even 20 years following stroke in adults aged 18 through 50 years, patients remain at a significantly higher risk of death compared with the general population.
The excess mortality rate in stroke patients was due mainly to cardiovascular diseases but also to cancer, other diseases, accidents, and suicide. The probability for long-term survival improved significantly during the observation period for patients with ischemic or ill-defined stroke.
The most rapid recovery usually occurs during the first three to four months after a stroke, but some survivors continue to recover well into the first and second year after their stroke. Some signs point to physical therapy.
There is currently no cure for most types of dementia – including the dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease. These types of dementia are what we call “neurodegenerative.” The progression of these dementias cannot be reversed right now; symptoms gradually get worse.
After six months, improvements are possible but will be much slower. Most stroke patients reach a relatively steady state at this point. For some, this means a full recovery. Others will have ongoing impairments, also called chronic stroke disease.