Impaired Visual Emotion Recognition After Minor Ischemic Stroke

Objective To assess the prevalence of impaired visual emotion recognition in patients who have suffered a minor ischemic stroke in the subacute phase and to determine associated factors of impaired visual emotion recognition. Design A prospective observational study. Setting Stroke-unit of a teaching hospital. Participants 112 patients with minor ischemic stroke. Interventions Not applicable. Main outcome measures Patients with minor stroke underwent a neuropsychological assessment in the sub-acute phase for visual emotion recognition by the Ekman 60 Faces Test and for general cognition. Univariable linear regression analyses were performed to identify associated factors of emotion recognition impairment. Results In 112 minor stroke patients we found a prevalence of 25% of impaired visual emotion recognition. This was significantly correlated with impaired general cognition. Nevertheless 10.9% of patients with normal general cognition still had impaired emotion recognition. Mood was negatively associated. Stroke localization, hemisphere side and gender were not associated. Conclusion Impaired visual emotion recognition is found in about a quarter of patients with minor ischemic stroke.