PSYCHOSOCIAL AND HEALTH-STATUS IN STROKE SURVIVORS AFTER 14 YEARS

Background and Purpose Most studies of long-term survival and assessme nt of health status in survivors of stroke are hospital based and are often based only on a relatively short follow-up. This study was aimed at evaluating survival of acute stroke after 14 years. We also assess ed psychosocial and health status among the long-term stroke survivors . Methods This study is a follow-up of the Finnish part of the collabo rative World Health Organization Stroke Study that took place during 1 972 through 1974. All survivors were interviewed by telephone after be ing sent a structured questionnaire approximately 14 years after the i nitial stroke attack. Information on clinical history, socioeconomic s ituation, self-reported functional capacity, psychosomatic status, per ceived mental status, and perceived health was collected. Results Of t he 1241 persons who had been entered in the stroke register from 1972 through 1974, 241 (19.4%) were still alive after 14 years. Participati on rate in the telephone interview was 83.4%. Over 80% of all stroke s urvivors lived at home or with relatives at the time of interview. Fun ctional capacity was good in about two thirds of the stroke survivors. Only 10% to 15% of all respondents felt depressed. About half of both men and women aged 64 years or younger perceived their health as good , while only 25% of men aged 65 years or over did. Conclusions Most st roke survivors did not need institutionalized care in the long term. A lthough a large proportion of them suffered from various somatic disea ses, their functional capacity was found to be good.