Washington, Oct 10 : A new study has found that having a stroke may shave nearly 3 out of 5 quality years off your life.
Stroke treatments and prevention to improve quality of life for people who experience a stroke is poorer than researchers hoped, with stroke still taking nearly three out of five quality years off a person's life, the study suggests.
Researchers say the findings leave considerable room for improvement in stroke treatment.
Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability and the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States.
"These results highlight the severe toll that stroke takes on millions of people every year," study author Peter M. Rothwell, FMedSci, a professor with the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, United Kingdom, said.
"This is the first study since the 1990s to look at long-term quality of life after stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA)," he said.
The study determined the five-year quality-adjusted life years for the participants, calculated by multiplying the time spent in a health state by the value assigned to that particular health state.
For example, the study found that out of a possible five years of perfect health, people who had a stroke lost 1.71 years due to earlier 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 results varied greatly depending on severity of the stroke, with those having a minor stroke experiencing 2.06 fewer quality-adjusted life years; moderate, 3.35 years; and severe, 4.3 quality years. People who had TIAs had 1.68 fewer quality-adjusted life years.
"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," Rothwell said.
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Stroke takes away 3 out of 5 quality years of life