Suffering a stroke can cut off up to 5 years of quality life, say researchers from John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, United Kingdom. The study emphasizes on the need to improve stroke treatments.
Stroke is the fourth biggest cause of death in the United States. The disorder is also the leading cause of disabilities among American adults. According to a CDC report, one in 18 deaths (accounting to 130,000 deaths) a year is caused by strokes.
In a new study, researchers from the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, United Kingdom, found that stroke not only leaves a person feeling ill, but each instance of stroke can cut off up to 5 years of quality life of a patient.
This is the first study conducted since the 1990s that looked at the quality of life after a person suffers a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). The study was conducted on 748 patients that suffered a stroke and 400 patients that had a TIA. All patients were examined in follow-up studies that spanned over five years. The participants were given questionnaires that measured their quality of life. These scores were put on a scale that had ratings ranging from "near to death" to "perfect health."
Researchers found that in the five years some patients lost 1.71 years due to early death and another 1.08 years due to a reduced quality of life, resulting in a reduction of 2.79 quality-adjusted life years. The number of quality years lost depended on the severity of the stroke. For example, people who experienced a mild stroke lost 2.06 years. When severity was at its maximum, patients lost up to 4.3 years of quality life.
"Our study should serve as a wake-up call that we need more funding and research for stroke treatments and secondary stroke prevention measures to improve quality of life in stroke survivors,"said study author Peter M. Rothwell, FMedSci, a professor with the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
