To investigate the effect of cognitive impairment on fatal and nonfatal incident stroke in older adults.
A large, national, prospective, population-based study of a representative cohort of older Canadians followed over a 10-year period.
Secondary analyses were conducted using data from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging, a population-based study of older adults followed prospectively from 1991 to 2001.
Nine thousand four hundred fifty-one adults aged 65 and older who had not previously been diagnosed with stroke at baseline (in 1991).
In addition to known risk factors, the independent contribution of cognitive function (diagnosed in a clinical examination) was examined as a risk for stroke in older adults.
Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that cognitive impairment was associated with twice the odds of fatal incident stroke, controlling for well-established risk factors.
This study provides further evidence for the need to consider cognitive function in relation to stroke risk in older populations.