Journal of the American Heart Association
September 30, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Lower Cognitive Function in People Aged 60 to 69 Years Is Associated With Future Stroke.
Askemyr A, Basna R, Elmståhl S, Overton M.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
Lower cognitive function in people aged 60 to 69 was associated with higher future stroke risk.
What was studied
Cohort of 4,912 older adults followed an average 12.3 years, relating cognitive domain performance tertiles to first-time stroke, with age-stratified analysis.
Key findings
- 572 participants had a stroke; low perceptual speed was associated with HR 1.40 overall.
- In ages 60-69, low global cognition (HR 1.86), episodic memory (HR 1.68) and perceptual speed (HR 1.66) predicted stroke.
Clinical relevance
Subtle cognitive changes in the 60s may signal vascular risk and prompt closer attention to stroke prevention.
Who should care
Limitations
An observational cohort that cannot show causation, and unmeasured vascular disease may drive both lower cognition and stroke.
Consider intensifying vascular risk assessment in people in their 60s with cognitive decline.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Background
The association between impairment across cognitive domains and incident stroke has not been thoroughly investigated. This study examined the risk of first-time stroke among older adults with lower cognitive function in different cognitive domains and how associations vary by age.
Methods
This longitudinal cohort study used baseline data from GÅS (Good Aging in Skåne) and registry data from the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare. Exclusion criteria were previous stroke or transient ischemic attack, baseline dementia, or no cognitive data. The participants (n=4912) were divided into tertiles on the basis of performance on cognitive tests representing multiple cognitive domains. Cox regression was used to estimate the risk of stroke for the low tertile of cognitive function compared with the high tertile. Age-stratified analysis was performed for participants aged 60 to 69, 70 to 79, and ≥80 years.
Results
The studied population consisted of 2203 men, 3094 aged 60 to 69 years, 494 aged 70 to 79 years, and 1184 aged ≥80 years. During the average follow-up time of 12.3 years, 572 of the 4912 participants had a stroke. In the fully adjusted models, participants in the low tertile of perceptual speed had higher risk of stroke (hazard ratio [HR], 1.40 [95% CI, 1.13-1.72]). In age-stratified analysis, higher risk of stroke was observed for participants aged 60 to 69 years in the low tertile of global cognition (HR, 1.86 [95% CI, 1.27-2.69]), episodic memory (HR, 1.68 [95% CI, 1.21-2.33]), and perceptual speed (HR, 1.66 [95% CI, 1.19-2.32]).
Conclusions
Lower cognitive functioning in global cognition, episodic memory and perceptual speed in people aged 60 to 69 years are associated with an increased risk of future stroke.
DOI
10.1161/jaha.125.048423
PMID
42813560
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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