The study assessed 555 patients from the Cambridge CADASIL register who were recruited between 2001 and 2023. The results showed that the age of stroke onset significantly increased over time, meaning that patients recruited later in the study had strokes at an older age than those who were recruited earlier in the study.
Patients recruited to the study after 2016 also had a lower risk of stroke and dementia, (whilst controlling for other risk factors) compared to those who were recruited before 2016. This all suggests that the prognosis of CADASIL is improving!
Although the researchers acknowledge that these changes could be due more awareness leading to identification of milder cases and better control of risk factors such as smoking, their results still showed improvements even after controlling for risk factors and mutation sites.
Reference:
Sukhonpanich N, Koohi F, Jolly AA, Markus HS. Changes in the prognosis of CADASIL over time: a 23-year study in 555 individuals. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2024 Nov 15:jnnp-2024-334823. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2024-334823. Click here for PubMed abstract.