SURVIVAL AND FUNCTIONAL STATUS 20 OR MORE YEARS AFTER FIRST STROKE - THE FRAMINGHAM-STUDY

Background and Purpose-We examined the 20-or-more-year survival and fu nctional levels of 148 stroke survivors and 148 age-and sex-matched co ntrol subjects from the Framingham Study Cohort, whom we originally st udied in 1972-1974 to ascertain the survival and disability status of stroke survivors compared with that of controls. Methods-This long-ter m evaluation was done with use of data from the 1993-1995 Framingham S tudy Cohort Examination 23 on the 10 stroke survivors and 20 control s ubjects still living to identify and compare the host characteristics and functional status of each group. The survival curves for both stro ke survivors and controls were derived from the ongoing Framingham Stu dy database. Results-Twenty-plus-year stroke survivors experienced a g reater mortality than age-and sex-matched controls (92.5% and 81%, res pectively), The slopes of the two survival curves were essentially the same. Functional status (eg, walking and independence in activities o f daily living) of stroke survivors, however, compared very favorably with that of the control subjects. Stroke survivors were more Likely t o be female and to have a number of comorbidities, including elevated blood pressures, greater use of medications, less use of alcohol, and less depressive symptomology. Conclusions-in the Framingham cohort, 20 -plus-year stroke survivors showed greater mortality than age-and sex- matched control subjects; functionally, however, the groups were very similar and in general quite independent.