Caracterização Cognitiva na Fase Subaguda após AVC: o contributo do Oxford Cognitive Screening

Abstract

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability in adult population, often leaving cognitive impairments. In the acute and subacute phases (up to three months post-stroke), a neuropsychological screening assessment is implemented to characterize the cognitive and emotional state and to plan intervention during hospitalization. This study aims to characterize global cognition and executive functioning in the subacute phase post-stroke and to evaluate the usefulness of the Portuguese version of the OCS (OCS-PT; Valério et al., 2022), a screening tool for global cognition specifically designed for assessment in the early post-stroke phases. 15 patients in the subacute phase post-stroke and 26 healthy individuals matched for age and education participated in the study. The screening protocol included assessments of global cognition (MoCA and OCS-PT), executive functions (IFS), anxiety and depression (HADS, GAI, and GDS), and, only in the clinical group, premorbid intelligence (TeLPI). The results showed significant differences in performance between the two groups on the MoCA (t(18.8) = -3.85, p = .001, d = 3.90) and on the IFS (t(20.3) = -5.68, p < .001, d = 4.41). In the OCS-PT, the performance of the two groups differed significantly in only 3 tasks (naming, number writing, and praxis) out of a total of 12. In the clinical group, a higher prevalence of deficits was detected in the tasks of number writing, praxis, and spatial asymmetry measurement. Moderate significant correlations were observed between performance in the MoCA subdomains and the OCS-PT tasks in most cognitive domains (range .326 - .692). The advantages and limitations of the OCS are discussed.