Cognitive impairments in patients with hemispatial neglect from acute right hemisphere stroke.
OBJECTIVE
Little is known about cognitive differences between patients showing neglect and those without neglect in their acute stroke stage. The aim of this study was to investigate how the patients with neglect (N+) differ from those without neglect (N-) in general cognitive function assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).


METHODS
Patients consisted of 98 consecutive patients with acute right hemisphere stroke. The patients underwent neglect test battery followed by MMSE in the same day.


RESULTS
The frequency of cognitive deficits in N+ group was higher than that of N- group (74.1% vs. 35.0%). A regression analysis, after controlling for lesion volume, age, and education, showed that neglect was a significant predictor of low MMSE score. Among MMSE subdomains, the severity of neglect was related to poor performances on episodic memory (orientation and 3-word recall), working memory/calculation (serial 7s), and constructional praxis (interlocking pentagons).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that hemispatial neglect is associated with several forms of cognitive deficits in patients with acute right hemisphere stroke.
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Byung Hwa
BH
Lee
Eun-Joo
EJ
Kim
Bon D
BD
Ku
Kyung Mook
KM
Choi
Sang Won
SW
Seo
Gyeong-Moon
GM
Kim
Chin-Sang
CS
Chung
Kenneth M
KM
Heilman
Duk L
DL
Na
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis; D001288:Attention; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014706:Verbal Learning