Background: Psycho-cognitive consequences are a frequent cause of disability in stroke survivors but are often underdiagnosed also because of lack of services dedicated to these aspects. We started assessing systematically cognitive and behavioral functions in acute stroke patients and to follow them up. Here, we report a retrospective analysis of the organization of the Sacco VAS-COG stroke care pathway and the refinements implemented during 5 years of activity. Methods: The protocol includes baseline collection of clinical history, general and neurologic examinations, functional, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging assessment. At follow-up, a diagnosis of cognitive decline was made based on best clinical judgment in the first period (January 2018 to May 2019, namely VAS-COG protocol 1.0) and then based on an extensive neuropsychological battery (May 2019 to January 2023, namely VASCOG protocol 2.0); psychiatric and behavioral disturbances are investigated through suitable scales. Results: From January 2018 to December 2022, 834 patients (mean age 76±13.6 years; 46.6 % females) with acute cerebrovascular events were admitted to the stroke unit, mostly (80 %) for ischemic strokes. Pre-event cognitive impairment was not assessable in 78 patients (9.3 %) because no reliable informant was present and was reported in 327/756 (43 %) patients. During follow-up, post-stroke cognitive impairment was detected in 124/217 (57.1 %) patients in VAS-COG protocol 1.0 and in 137/201(68.2 %) patients in VAS-COG protocol 2.0, while 95/218 (43.2 %) patients were found to be depressed and patients presented on average 2.5 neuropsychiatric symptoms on Neuropsychiatric Inventory-questionnaire. Conclusions: The VAS-COG stroke care pathway represents a model for patients and for their families.

Dementia is one of the main causes of disability later in life. Interventions in support of patients with dementia aim at granting the highest level of independence in activities of daily living and at delivering the required facilities; formal and informal caregivers represent the interface between patients and health services. The aims of our study were to assess caregivers’ perceived needs and to relate them to their own socio-cultural features and to patients’ clinical characteristics. During three consecutive months, 50 caregivers of patients with dementia were interviewed about their needs in the assistance of subjects with dementia by means of three structured questionnaires (Caregiver Needs Assessment [CNA], Zarit Burden Inventory [ZBI], Neuropsychiatric Inventory–Questionnaire [NPI-Q]) and of two open-ended questions. Higher scores of CNA (suggestive of more needs) were associated with a major burden in caregiving and were related to a more severe behavioral and psychological profile of patients with dementia. ZBI was highly correlated with NPI distress score. Among caregivers, the children of patients reported more needs, particularly about information on disease and how to cope with it. CNA emerged as a complete and reliable instrument, with need for safety being the only item missing from the questionnaire and identified by means of the open-ended questions. Our results showed how the use of simple and brief instruments can increase the communication between health operators and caregivers and could thus improve the quality of formal and informal assistance.