Even Minor Stroke Affects Patient’s Quality of Life in an Adverse Manner

A new study published in the journal Neurology reveals that stroke not only deducts years from the patients’ lives but also reduces the quality of remaining life that they have left. Researchers led by Ramon Luengo-Fernandez from University of Oxford in England followed over 750 stroke patients and 450 people who had suffered transient ischemic attack (TLA), or a ‘mini-stroke’, for a period of five years.

They found that people who suffer a stroke lose an average of 1.71 years of five years of perfect health due to early death and 1.08 years due to reduced quality of life, thus losing a total average of 2.79 ‘quality-adjusted life years’.

“The degree to which a stroke will impact an individual's quality of life will be driven by the severity of the event. Whereas in many cases a minor stroke may have little impact on a patient's life, a severe stroke will almost invariably pose a considerable negative impact”, Luengo-Fernandez said.

Source-Medindia