The impact of educational level on cognitive assessments in young patients admitted to rehabilitation after ischaemic stroke

Introduction and objective: We propose to assess the impact of educational level on cognitive tests at admission and discharge after a period of cognitive rehabilitation in young patients after an ischemic stroke. Materials and methods: We considered secondary and higher education (group A) and less than 6 years of formal education (group B). We compared A and B using chi (2) and Kruskal-Wallis. We studied A and B as predictors of verbal and working memory at discharge. Verbal memory and working memory were assessed at admission and discharge using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and DIGITS from the Barcelona test, respectively. Results: We analyzed n = 277 patients (55% belonging to group A, mean age 51 years) admitted to a specialized center in Spain between 2009 and 2019. We found significant differences (p < 0.05) on admission, all in favor of group A in the assessments of attention, inhibition, visuoperception, visuoconstruction, verbal fluency and comprehension. In DIGITS and RAVLT-learning we found differences on admission. In DIGITS and RAVLT-recognition we found differences on discharge, all in favour of group A. We found no differences in age, severity, time to admission, or length of stay in hospital. We also found no differences in cognitive gains or treatment efficiency on memory tests. Groups A and B do not predict RAVLT (R-2 = 0.53) or DIGITS (R-2 = 0.48). Conclusions: Group A scores better in 63% of the tests on admission and in 75% of the tests on discharge, groups A and B are similar in gains and efficiency in memory tests (c) 2021 Sociedad Espanola de Rehabilitacion y Medicina Fisica. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.