Nele Demeyere (United Kingdom)
University of Oxford
Psychology
I am a cognitive neuropsychologist, with 16 years of research experience working at the interface between cognitive neuropsychology and clinical practice in stroke. Since 2015, I head the Translational Neuropsychology Research Group at the University of Oxford. My research thus far has spanned fundamental cognitive neuropsychology, clinical tool development for cognitive screening, and observational cohort studies capitalising on real-world clinical cohort data, including routinely acquired clinical brain scans. I completed my PhD in neuropsychology at the University of Birmingham (2010) followed by a postdoctoral position at Birmingham and the University of Oxford. I received the Lord Leonard and Lady Estelle Wolfson Stroke Association lectureship, and started my independent lab, the Translational Neuropsychology Group at the University of Oxford in 2015. I was recently awarded the Stroke Association’s Priority Programme Award (2019) to investigate long term psychological consequences of stroke. The biggest impact of my work so far has been the implementation of the Oxford Cognitive screen (www.ocs-test.org), developed specifically for stroke and now licenced to over 1200 clinical stroke settings. More info on current projects in the lab: www.demeyerelab.org

Presenter of 1 Presentation

 Conference Calendar

PREVALENCE OF PERSISTENT DOMAIN-SPECIFIC COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS AT 6 MONTHS POST STROKE

Session Name
0510 - VCI and Dementia (ID 38)
Session Type
Free Communication Session
Date
28.10.2021, Thursday
Session Time
17:45 - 19:15
Room
FREE COMMUNICATIONS A
Presenter
Lecture Time
17:55 - 18:05

Abstract

Background and Aims

Understanding the long-term cognitive outcomes of stroke is vital in guiding appropriate individualized care for stroke patients, yet this is often not prioritized. With the advent of stroke-specific cognitive screening, such as the Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS), it is clear that solely screening for general cognitive impairment overlooks crucial domain-specific impairments. Identifying domain-specific impairments over time and the prevalence of persistent impairments will allow for a better understanding of the longitudinal effect of stroke on cognition.

Methods

The cognitive profiles of 458 stroke survivors (216 female, mean age 74 years) were examined during acute recovery and at six-month follow-up. Domain-specific cognitive impairments were assessed using the OCS. The prevalence of impairments at acute recovery (<2 weeks) and six months were examined, and more crucially, the rates of individuals suffering persistent cognitive impairments (i.e. impaired acutely and remained impaired at follow-up).

Results

Persistent impairment after six-months was most common for tests related to aphasia, such as picture naming (42.7%) and sentence reading (35.3%). For memory, 24-27% remained impaired, while executive function remained impaired in 20% of participants. The lowest rates of persistent impairment was a in measure of semantic understanding at 3.85%, followed by basic arithmetic ability (15%).

Conclusions

Although some domain-specific impairments improve, many patients experience lasting impairments. This emphasizes the need to better understand the specific challenges for individuals recovering from stroke and importantly, this further highlights the clear need for domain-specific assessments in order to provide tailored interventions and support to patients.

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