Jenni Andersson, Britt-Marie Stålnacke, Ann Sörlin, Gustaf Magaard, Xiaolei Hu
Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden.
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2808

Background: The long-term impact of transient ischaemic attack is largely unknown.
Objectives: To assess the long-term perceived impact of transient ischaemic attack and explore the influence of sex and age on these perceptions; and to evaluate the relationships between activities of daily living, participation and overall recovery, and the other domains of the Stroke Impact Scale 3. 0 (SIS).
Methods: A retrospective study among adult community-dwelling individuals from 6 months up to 10 years after onset of transient ischaemic attack. A total of 299 survivors of transient ischaemic attack responded to the SIS.
Results: Most self-reported disabilities involved emotion, strength, and participation domains of SIS and remained stable until 10 years post-transient ischaemic attack. Women reported significantly more disabilities for emotion and hand function. Elderly subjects (age > 65 years) reported more disabilities for strength, mobility, hand function, activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living, and participation. The activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living, participation, and overall recovery demonstrated significant, although low-to-moderate, associations with other SIS domains after transient ischaemic attack.
Conclusion: The broadly perceived disabilities were demonstrated consistently and played a significant meaningful role in everyday life and recovery among community-dwelling individuals up to 10 years after a transient ischaemic attack. These findings indicate the need for long-term multi-professional follow-up with holistic rehabilitation to improve overall recovery among survivors of transient ischaemic attack.

The long-term impact of transient ischaemic attack is largely unknown. The aims of this study were to assess the long-term patient-reported impact of transient ischaemic attack and explore the influence of sex and age on these perceptions. A further aim was to evaluate the relationships between activities of daily living, participation, and overall recovery with the other domains of the Stroke Impact Scale 3.0 (SIS). This study assessed various patient-reported disabilities among 299 survivors of transient ischaemic attack, from 6 months until 10 years after onset of transient ischaemic attack, using patient-reported SIS outcome measures. The results showed that most self-reported disabilities involved the emotion, strength, and participation domains of SIS and remained stable until 10 years post-transient ischaemic attack. Women reported higher levels of disabilities than men. There was a correlation between increased age and levels of self-reported disabilities for both men and women. These patient-reported disabilities showed significant, although low-to-moderate, associations with activities of daily living, participation, and overall recovery. The findings suggest a long-term need for general follow-up and rehabilitation among individuals after transient ischaemic attack.