Lower Cognitive Scores Linked to Stroke Risk in Adults in Their 60s

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Healthy Aging

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On September 30, 2026, the Journal of the American Heart Association published a Swedish observational study linking lower cognitive scores with higher future stroke risk among adults ages 60 to 69.

Researchers tracked first-time strokes after cognitive testing

According to the American Heart Association's (AHA) report, the analysis included 4,912 participants in the Good Aging in Skåne project. All were ages 60 and older. Men made up 46% of the group.

Researchers used standardized tests to assess memory and information-processing speed. They also assessed verbal fluency and executive function. Scores were then grouped into low, middle and high performance categories by age.

That age-based grouping is part of the method, not a small detail. The researchers compared cognitive performance within age categories rather than presenting one result for everyone over 60.

The team followed participants for an average of 12.3 years. During follow-up, 572 participants had a stroke. The clinical outcome was a later first-time stroke, not simply a change in a cognitive test result.

By placing the testing before the later stroke outcome, the study addressed a forward-looking question. Researchers were asking whether cognitive performance might be a clue to future vascular health. That is different from testing thinking skills only after someone has already had a stroke.

The association appeared among adults ages 60 to 69

The AHA reported these associations among participants ages 60 to 69 when comparing lower scores with higher scores on the relevant measure:

Overall thinking: Lower scores were associated with an 86% higher stroke risk.
Memory: Lower scores were associated with a 68% higher stroke risk.
Information-processing speed: Lower scores were associated with a 66% higher stroke risk.

After accounting for other health and lifestyle factors, researchers did not observe the same pattern among participants ages 70 to 79 or 80 and older.

This makes age a central part of the result. The finding should stay attached to the group in which it appeared, rather than being described as a prediction for all older adults.

Lead author Alice Askemyr is a geriatrics researcher at Lund University and Skåne University Hospital. In the AHA report, she said that “silent” brain injuries can affect both cognitive functioning and future stroke risk.

Her explanation points to a possible shared source of changes in thinking and later vascular risk.

The findings are not an individual stroke forecast

Because this was an observational study, it does not establish that lower cognitive scores cause stroke. It also does not show that raising a test score would reduce stroke risk.

The percentages are relative comparisons between score groups, not personal odds. An 86% higher risk does not mean an 86% chance of having a stroke. The total of 572 strokes describes the full cohort, not the probability for an individual reader with a particular score.

The study also began with a selected population. Participants had no history of dementia or stroke at enrollment, and none had a history of transient ischemic attack. Men were part of a mixed-sex cohort rather than the only group studied. The findings should not be treated as a male-only estimate or casually extended to people with those prior conditions.

Askemyr also cautioned against assuming the findings transfer unchanged to other countries. The Swedish setting matters because healthcare, socioeconomic conditions and lifestyle habits differ. This limits how widely the results apply, rather than making the association meaningless.

The AHA describes cognitive performance as a possible future screening clue, not a validated stand-alone test. A lower score is not a diagnosis of vascular disease or a prediction that a stroke will occur. The study did not test whether screening itself prevents stroke.

It also did not test a prevention program or endorse a particular exercise plan, supplement or cognitive-training regimen. Those are separate questions from whether test performance is associated with a later clinical event.

Established vascular risk factors still guide the discussion

Elisabeth Breese Marsh, who was not involved in the study, chairs the AHA's 2026 scientific statement on brain health. In the AHA report, she advised people in their 40s and 50s to address risk factors and habits that support overall brain health.

For men in midlife, that advice is the link to the broader prevention discussion. It keeps attention on brain health before symptoms emerge rather than waiting for a cognitive test to raise the subject.

In separate coverage of its PREVENT cardiovascular risk equations, the AHA describes risk assessment as a conversation with a healthcare professional. Factors used in that assessment include:

Age
Blood pressure
Cholesterol
Kidney function
Diabetes status
Smoking history

These are established health measures to bring into a vascular risk discussion. They give the conversation a broader foundation than a cognitive score alone. The point is to connect brain health with the rest of the health picture.

A clinician-led discussion can place concerns about memory or focus alongside those measures. An occasional memory lapse or an informal online quiz should not be treated as the standardized testing used in this research. Personal decisions about assessment or treatment belong with a qualified healthcare professional.

For a reader preparing for that conversation, useful questions stay close to the evidence:

How do my blood pressure and cholesterol fit into my cardiovascular risk assessment?
How are kidney function, diabetes status and smoking history being taken into account?
How should concerns about focus or memory be assessed alongside that information?

Those questions keep attention on information that the AHA already includes in cardiovascular risk assessment. They also leave room to discuss why a memory concern prompted the appointment. The reader does not have to settle the research question before raising a concern with a clinician.

What this changes: The study reinforces existing attention to vascular risk factors and brain health rather than establishing a new screening practice.

How Everfitguys helps

Turning this cognitive-score finding into a better-informed health conversation is the next step, and Everfitguys supplies research-led explanations for men in midlife and later life. When declining focus or memory makes headlines feel personal, its editorial coverage separates the measured result from broader claims so readers can understand the evidence around staying mentally sharp.

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