Quality of Life after Transient Ischemic Attack

Abstract

Introduction: A transient ischemic attack (TIA), as a transitory episode of neurologic dysfunction, would be expected to have little impact on quality of life (QoL). Nevertheless, previous studies have reported that anxiety/depression, sleep disorders, and fatigue are frequent post-TIA complaints. This study aims to characterize QoL in a post-TIA sample. Materials and Methods: Transversal comparative study of patients admitted to the Neurology Department of a tertiary hospital, with a diagnosis of TIA (July/2015-July/2020) and non-TIA, with no cerebrovascular disease, paired by age and sex. We applied questionnaires, adapted to the Portuguese language, to evaluate QoL, anxiety/ depression, sleep, and fatigue. Results: We included 42 cases and 39 controls; 57.1% of TIA patients were male, with a mean age of 58y. TIA-patients exhibited a lower self-evaluation of QoL [69.4±12.4 vs. 82.8±11.9, p<0.001) and lower scores in physical [66.1 (IQR 21.4) vs. 82.1 [14.3], p<0.001] and psychological health [66.7(26) vs. 91.7(12.5), p<0.001]. Most cases had anxiety symptoms (52.4%), with significantly higher anxiety scores [8 (5) vs. 6 (4), p<0.001]. TIA group had worse sleep performance (22(4) vs. 25(5), p=0.010), sleep quality and efficiency, higher need to use sleeping medication, and higher daytime dysfunction. Both groups displayed high fatigue scores; TIA-patients had higher mental fatigue scores [14.9(3.5) vs. 10.5(4), p<0.001]. Discussion: TIA-patients had significantly lower levels of health-related QoL. Lower sleep performance, higher prevalence of anxiety and depression and, higher levels of mental fatigue were also reported. TIA follow-up paradigm must shift to systematically evaluate the event's impact in QoL