BACKGROUND: Some researches suggest that improvement of motor function is closely related to cognitive function. The better the cognitive status is, the better the recovery of motor function is. Early evaluation of cognitive function can predict prognosis of motor function and improve generalized ability, social communication abilities and quality of life (QOL).OBJECTIVE: To observe the correlation of cognitive function in hemiplegia and aphasia and analyze the prognostic factor of early cognitive dysfunction in patients with acute stroke.DESIGN: Contrast study.SETTING: Department of Neurology, Taian Central Hospital; Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University.PARTICIPANTS: Fifty patients with acute stroke were enrolled from Neurological Department of Taian Central Hospital and Neurological Department of the Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University from January 2002 to May 2005. They were 32 males and 18 females aged 34-78 years. All patients were coincidence with the Diagnostic Criteria of Acute Stroke established by the Fourth National Cerebrovascular Diseases Meeting and diagnosed with CT or MRI. Patients were told about the evaluation in details. Among them, 44 patients had hemiplegia, including 30 males and 14 females aged 34-78 years; 30 had aphasia, including 17 males and 13 females aged 34-78 years; 20 had non-aphasia, including 14 males and 6 females aged 38-70 years.METHODS: ① Aphasia was tested with Western Aphasia Battery (WAB).Aphasic quotient of ＜ 93.8 was regarded as aphasia; otherwise, it was regarded as non-aphasia. ② Motor function was evaluated with Fugl-Meyer (FMA).Motor function of upper and lower limbs was scored as 100 in total. The higher the points were, the better the motor function was. ③ Cognitive function was evaluated with Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA), which contained 4 items (orientation, perceptibility, visual-motor organization and thinking ability) and 22 subtests in total. The higher the points were, the better the cognitive function was. Functional evaluation started at half-month treatment onset. Intergroup comparison of their mean value was tested using Student's test and one-way analysis of variance.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Correlation between cognitive function and hemiplegia; ② correlation between cognitive function and aphasia.RESULTS: Fifty patients with acute stroke were all involved in the final analysis. ① Correlation between cognitive function and hemiplegia: Scores of orientation, perception, visual-motor organization and cognitive function of 44 patients with hemiplegia were positive positively correlated with FMA scores of motor function (r=0.534, 0.598, 0.500, 0.548, P ＜ 0.01); however,scores of thinking ability was not correlated with FMA scores of motor function (r=0.310, P ＞ 0.05). ② Correlation between cognitive function and aphasia: Scores of orientation, perception, visual-motor organization, thinking operation and cognitive function of patients with aphasia were (4.60±2.37), (15.10±6.02), (14.00±6.93), (12.33±6.77), (1.83±1.09) points,which were lower than those of patients with non-aphasia (7.30±1.08),(23.20±1.11), (24.25±4.08), (24.20±5.43), (3.50±0.76) points (t=5.44 to7.197, P ＜ 0.05).CONCLUSION: The more severe the cognitive dysfunction is, the more severe the hemiplegia is. Cognitive function in stroke patients with aphasia is significantly reduced.