Lifestyle

Scientists have developed a new web-based tool that can best predict whether a person will suffer a stroke within 90 days. According to research published in the December 16, 2009, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"This is an important new tool because studies show that people who have a second stroke after the first are more likely to die or have severe disabilities," said study author Hakan Ay, MD, with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Follow up:

"This tool can help doctors identify people who are at high risk of another stroke and require immediate assessment based on information generally available at the time of initial evaluation."

For the study, researchers examined information from 1458 people who suffered a stroke and were admitted to hospital within 72 hours.

Participants provided information about their medical history and were subjected to brain scans. After three months of follow-up involving 806 participants, 60 died. Of these, 30 strokes occurred within 14 days after the first stroke. The study found that the risk of recurrent stroke was 2.6% in 14 days and 6% in 90 days.

Scientists have developed a new tool known as the "Estimator risk of recurrence in 90 days" or "RRE-90 score 'to estimate the risk of a person having another stroke within three months. Through the risk factors for stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), age and type of the first stroke that the person has suffered, along with information on brain imaging.

The higher the score, the more likely it was a patient experience a second stroke. The risk is approximately 40 times higher in people with four or more risk factors for stroke than in people without risk factors. The study found that more than 96% who had second stroke showed signs of one or more risk factors.

We do not currently have a well developed tool to predict the short-term risk of having another stroke, so this tool is fully ready will help improve the results. People at high risk of a second stroke can be immediately admitted to specialized centers for preventive treatment.

The study was done by the National Institutes of Health.