Abstract: ObjectiveTo study the impact of stroke on elderly's mental status.Methods71 elderly inpatients aged between 60 to 90 who suffered stroke(31 cases) or not(40 cases) were assessed the mental status as a whole, the evaluation of comprehension of linguistic information,and non-verbal reasoning abilities using Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE), Token Test and Raven Test.The relationships between these cognitive aspects and stroke was also analysed.ResultsThere were 68% of elderly suffering dementia symptoms in stroke group which was much higher than Non-stroke group (15%).The correlation between MMSE and Token is more close than the correlation between MMSE and Raven in stroke group. The correlations among MMSE, Token and Raven were significant different between stroke and Non-stroke groups. There is a positive correlation coefficient between age and Token scores in dementing patients; whereas a closer relationship between age, education level and Raven in Non-stroke group was found. This implied the impacts of stroke on the time-course of mental degeneration.Conclusions stroke can interrupt normal mental structure and speed up the process of degeneration of cognitive functions. Semantic dysfunction might manifestation earlier than non-linguistic functions. Token is more sensitive than Raven in detecting dementia symptoms of stroke type.

Key words: cerebral vascular diseases, dementia, Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE), Token Test, Raven Test