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Multidomain Lifestyle Interventions for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline After Ischemic Stroke: Randomized Trial
Matz K, Teuschl Y, Firlinger B, Dachenhausen A, Keindl M, Seyfang L, Tuomilehto J, Brainin M et al.. Stroke, 2015-09-15
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background and purpose Cognitive impairment occurs in ≤30% of all stroke survivors. However, effective therapies aimed at preventing poststroke cognitive decline are lacking. We assessed the efficacy of a multidomain intervention on preventing cognitive decline after stroke. Methods In this randomized, observer-blind trial patients were recruited within 3 months after an acute stroke in 5 Austrian neurological centers. Patients were assigned to a 24-month lifestyle-based multidomain intervention or standard stroke care. Primary outcomes were the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-cog) and occurrence of cognitive decline in the composite scores of at least 2 of 5 cognitive domains at 24 months. Results A total of 101 patients were randomized into multi-intervention and 101 into standard care during June 2010 and November 2012. Of them, 76 patients in the intervention group and 83 in the control group were included in the final intention-to-treat analysis. At 24 months, 8 of 76 (10.5%) patients in the intervention group and 10 of 83 (12.0%) patients in the control group showed cognitive decline corresponding to a relative risk reduction of 0.874 (95% confidence interval, 0.364-2.098). The change in ADAS-cog from baseline to 24 months was not different either (median 0 [IQR, -1 to 2] in both groups; P=0.808). Conclusions This trial found no benefit of 24-month multidomain intervention with focus on improvement in lifestyle and vascular risk factors on the incidence of poststroke cognitive decline in comparison with standard stroke care. Studies with a larger sample size are needed. Clinical trial registration URL: http://clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01109836.
Key findings
- Results A total of 101 patients were randomized into multi-intervention and 101 into standard care during June 2010 and November 2012.
Why it matters
In this 24-month trial of 202 stroke patients, a multidomain lifestyle intervention did not reduce cognitive decline compared with standard stroke care. The study found no benefit of this intervention for preventing cognitive decline after stroke.
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Study details
- Participants101
- Effect size10.5%; 12.0%
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 64/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Stroke) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Stroke: journal h-index 455 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial (from PubMed type “Randomized Controlled Trial”) |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 101 participants |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 70 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 5.4 citations a year over 13 year(s) since 2015 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 5.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 8 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 11 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Wolf‐Dieter Heiss: h-index 87 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 0 / 3 | Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare: institution h-index 663 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 3 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26374482) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 64 / 100 | — |
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Read the original
- DOI: 10.1161/strokeaha.115.009992
- PubMed: 26374482
- Original source →
- Free full text: ahajournals.org →
Full text: free to read — Unpaywall lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 10 Oct 2026).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
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APA 7th
Matz, K., Teuschl, Y., Firlinger, B., Dachenhausen, A., Keindl, M., Seyfang, L., et al. (2015). Multidomain Lifestyle Interventions for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline After Ischemic Stroke: Randomized Trial. Stroke. https://doi.org/10.1161/strokeaha.115.009992
Vancouver
Matz K, Teuschl Y, Firlinger B, Dachenhausen A, Keindl M, Seyfang L, et al. Multidomain Lifestyle Interventions for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline After Ischemic Stroke: Randomized Trial. Stroke. 2015. doi:10.1161/strokeaha.115.009992. PMID: 26374482.
BibTeX
@article{matz2015-26374482,
author = {Matz, K. and Teuschl, Y. and Firlinger, B. and Dachenhausen, A. and Keindl, M. and Seyfang, L. and Tuomilehto, J. and Brainin, M. and others},
title = {{Multidomain Lifestyle Interventions for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline After Ischemic Stroke: Randomized Trial}},
journal = {Stroke},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1161/strokeaha.115.009992},
pmid = {26374482},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1161/strokeaha.115.009992}
}
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