Strokes are more common among the elderly; however they can occur at any age across lifespan. Clinical lore and some studies have suggested that younger age of onset results in a better cognitive outcome; however few studies have evaluated the relationship between age of stroke onset and long term cognitive recovery. We tested the hypothesis that younger age of stroke onset will result in a better cognitive outcome than strokes occurring later in life. We analyzed the neuropsychological test performances given to patients (n=557) following a single stroke at least 3 months post onset. The patients (average age of onset 51.6 years, range: birth - 91) were administered a battery of tests assessing memory, language, visuospatial and executive function. Younger age of onset was significantly correlated with lower performances on tests of memory (r = -.10, p = .03), and approached significance on tests of executive function (r = -.09, p = .07). Age of onset was not significantly correlated with performances on tests of language and visuospatial abilities. Across all tests and cognitive domains, the impairments associated with younger age of onset (birth - 19 yrs) were at least as severe as those associated with older age of onset. Our preliminary findings do not support the hypothesis that younger age of stroke of onset will result in a more favorable cognitive outcome. Future directions of this research include analyzing: size of lesion and lesion location, the different types of stroke, and the length of time following stroke onset, and their relation to cognitive outcome. Supported by NINDS grant P01 NS19632 and SROP/MCNAIR.