Follow-ups still necessary  for 'low-risk' stroke survivors

Jul 31, 2017 06:00 am

Stroke survivors who don't experience any immediate complications are still more likely to die or have a heart attack than people who never had a stroke, a recent Canadian study suggests.

Researchers studied 26,366 adults in Ontario who had a stroke or a mini-stroke and didn't experience any complications for three months.

Over the next five years, they compared these adults to a control group of 263,660 people who shared similar characteristics but never had a stroke.

After one year, 9.5 per cent of the stroke survivors died or had complications, as compared to 5.4 per cent in the control group, researchers report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. After five years, 36 per cent of the stroke survivors died or had complications, compared to 21 per cent in the control group.

The findings suggest that just like survivors of severe strokes, "low-risk" patients need ongoing screening and treatment to minimise future issues. - REUTERS