Stroke is one of the most common causes of hospitalization and disability in Australia and has been linked to risk factors such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes, smoking and heart disease by the Stroke Foundation.
In a study from University of Queensland, scientists found that almost two thirds of acute stroke patients fail to survive more than a decade and have high risk of recurrence, prompting researchers to call for better patient care.
They analyzed data from more than 300,000 patients admitted to hospital following a sudden stroke between 2008 and 2017 in Australia and New Zealand.
The team also examined how many years were lost to stroke by comparing a patient’s predicted life expectancy with the length of actual survival.
They found only 36.4% of patients survived beyond 10 years, and 26.8% had another stroke.
A stroke reduced a patient’s life expectancy by five and a half years on average, compared with the general population.
In proportional terms, this meant a stroke reduced a person’s life expectancy by one third.
In addition, patients with a hemorrhagic stroke who have bleeding in the brain are at greater risk of death, another stroke and reduced life expectancy, than those with an ischemic stroke, which is caused by a burst blood vessel.
These findings reinforce the need for concerted efforts to improve acute stroke care.
The team says doctors need stroke networks of care to rapidly identify patients who have had a stroke, and provide them with access to important and time-sensitive treatment, such as thrombolysis, a clot-busting medication, and endovascular therapy, a specialized procedure to remove blood clots in the vessels to the brain
They also need dedicated stroke units to provide multidisciplinary care for these patients which is known to reduce death and disability after a stroke.
The team says there should also be a focus on lifestyle and risk factor modifications for secondary prevention, given the number of patients who will have a recurrent stroke.
If you care about stroke, please read studies that background noise may increase your risk of stroke, and MIND diet could slow down cognitive decline after stroke.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies about the key to better stroke outcomes, and tea and coffee may help lower your risk of stroke and dementia.
The study was conducted by Dr. Yang Peng et al and published in Stroke.
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