Primary ICH patients were enrolled and followed for 90-days post-discharge. Cognitive status was assessed by trained study staff using the short telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) during inpatient stay and at day-90. The short telephone MoCA is an abbreviated 12-point MoCA that has been validated in stroke patients. We used descriptive statistics and regression models to describe feasibility and determine factors and patterns associated with cognitive performance as assessed by MoCA.

Of the patients in which assessment was attempted, 314 (32.11%) were able to complete inpatient MoCA (n= 978) and 245 (33.61%) completed day-90 (n= 729). In our cohort, extraventricular drain placement (p= 0.009), higher ICH score (p= 0.001), higher NIHSS score (p= 0.008), lower GCS score (p= 0.013), history of hypertension (p= 0.008), and lower premorbid modified Rankin Scale (mRS) (p= 0.013) were independently associated with poorer acute cognitive performance as indicated by inpatient MoCA. In addition, the average MoCA score significantly increased by 1.02 points (p= 0.0001) by day-90 in our matched patient population (n= 161). Day-90 cognitive performance was also directly associated with both quality of life (as assessed by EuroQoL-5D) and functional status (as determined by mRS).