To prevent strokes, health systems should focus more attention on patients who have suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Prof Daniel Bereczki from the University of Budapest made this demand at the 1st Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) in Berlin.
In light of his current research findings, Prof Bereczki emphasized the following: "Health policy is called on to take suitable actions for TIA patients especially in socioeconomically poor regions, because individuals with a low socioeconomic status are at special risk of having a 'near stroke' due to temporarily disrupted circulation in the brain and of suffering a genuine stroke later."
The team of Hungarian researchers evaluated patient data from 2002 through 2007 for this study. The data hailed from the poorest district and the richest district of Budapest with a total population of 130,000. About 4,700 patients diagnosed with TIA were filtered out of this group. It turned out that only one third of them (35.4 percent) was hospitalised. In nearly one in four cases (23.5 percent), no neurological examination was conducted out even though TIA is a crucial risk factor for a stroke later on. Another alarming fact is that poor people suffer TIA much earlier than wealthy ones, namely, a full four years earlier. Patients from the wealthiest district had an average age of 66 when diagnosed whereas those from the poorest district had an average age of 62. Prof Bereczki: "Socioeconomic deprivation is a significant risk factor not only for strokes but also for TIA. This finding is crucial for secondary prevention."
"About 20 percent of ischemic strokes are preceded by a transient ischemic attack. The risk of developing a stroke following a TIA is particularly high in first few days. Rapid diagnosis and carful clinical evaluation leading to the introduction of preventive treatment may reduce the risk of post-TIA stroke by 80 percent", Prof Anna Czlonkowska (Warsaw, Poland), Chair of the EAN Subspecialty Scientific Panel Stroke, commented the current findings. "We know that the stroke burden is greater in low income countries and low income regions. The new findings by Dr. Bereczki and his group confirm this fact and stress that prevention of stroke on the country level should definitely reach out to persons particularly vulnerable in terms of social deprivation."