Stroke in the Elderly: An Inflection Point
Acute neurologic setback changes the prognosis
By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
March has been a difficult month with my 87-year old mother who has baseline cognitive decline, suffered a right internal capsule stroke and was hospitalized for 11 days. I wondered what her out look is now having moved from independent to assisted living. Alter AI helped me on this tough question.
An individual aged 85 or older who has been hospitalized for stroke and discharged to an assisted living facility with hemiparesis (weakness on one side) and cognitive decline faces a guarded but not hopeless prognosis. Recent evidence shows that frailty, pre-stroke function, and cognitive impairment critically determine both survival and long-term independence.
