Impaired renal function is associated with brain atrophy and poststroke cognitive decline

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the interrelationship among impaired renal function, brain pathology on imaging, and cognitive decline in a longitudinal poststroke cohort. METHODS:The Tel Aviv Brain Acute Stroke Cohort study is a prospective cohort of mild-moderate ischemic stroke/TIA survivors without dementia who underwent a 3T MRI and were cognitively assessed at admission and for 24 months following stroke. Renal function was evaluated at admission by creatinine clearance (CCl) estimation. The volumes of ischemic lesions and preexisting white matter hyperintensities (WMH), brain atrophy, and microstructural changes of the normal-appearing white matter tissue were measured using previously validated methods. RESULTS:Baseline data were available for 431 participants. Participants with a CCl