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(Stroke. 2008;39:1655.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Early Stroke Risk After a Transient Ischemic Attack

Can It Be Minimized?

Jonathan Y. Streifler, MD

From the Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, and Neurology Unit, Rabin Medical Center, Golda Campus (Hasharon Hospital), Petach Tikva, Israel.

Correspondence to Jonathan Y. Streifler, Neurology Unit, Rabin Medical Center, Golda Campus (Hasharon Hospital), 7 Keren Kayemet St. Petach Tikva 49372, Israel. E-mail jonathans@clalit.org.il, or streifll@post.tau.ac.il

Key Words: acute care • health policy • risk factors • TIA

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
See related article, pages 1717–1721.

Early stroke recurrence after a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke, as is becoming clearer lately, is much higher than previously reported. Recent studies found the overall risk to be as high as 8% within a week¹ and up to 20% within a 3-month period.^2,3

Along with these observations, numerous studies were published, suggesting different scores and methods aiming to identify those patients, which carry the highest risks. The study by Ois et al,⁴ published in this issue of Stroke, addresses this important issue as well.

Yet, with the influx of data—some relating to TIAs only and some mixing TIAs and minor stroke and not all in full agreement—uncertainties have risen. Therefore, there is a need to put some order into the list of risk factors and, more importantly, into the various possible effective means of reducing this high risk.

	Risk Factors

 
Early on, much attention has been paid to the clinical profile of the patients at risk: the California score suggested 5 major factors, while the Oxford area score suggested 4 other, mainly similar, factors (the ABCD Score). Other scores exist too, but these 2 have joined forces and recently a consensus was reached resulting in a validated score of 5 factors with 7 points—the ABCD₂ score.³ It consists of the following: A, for age: 1 point for age over 60 years; B, for blood pressure (BP): 1 point for BP over 140/90; C, for clinical features: 2 points for limb paresis, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Factors Associated With a High Risk of Recurrence in Patients With Transient Ischemic Attack or Minor Stroke

Angel Ois, Meritxell Gomis, Ana Rodríguez-Campello, Elisa Cuadrado-Godia, Jordi Jiménez-Conde, Claustre Pont-Sunyer, Gracia Cuccurella, and Jaume Roquer
Stroke 2008 39: 1717-1721. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]