OX-CHRONIC

Life after stroke: long term psychological consequences

The project is a Stroke Association funded Priority Programme Award, following on from our early post-stroke screening programme, where patients are screened for cognitive problems in the acute stroke unit, and subsequently followed up 6 months later at home.

Lay Summary

A stroke can damage parts of the brain that are responsible for mental faculties, such as vision and speech, but more domain-general problems with memory, attention and planning can also occur. Whether an individual experiences problems after stroke depends on various different factors, such as the location and size of the damage in the brain, their abilities prior to stroke, their age, etc. These different symptoms after stroke are not characterised as well as physical consequences and most research into these subtler changes after stroke are focused on isolated aspects (i.e. language or vision), or on very broad measures of cognition where these problems are reduced to a single ‘pass or fail’ score. Additionally, most research has focused on the short-term impact of stroke with few studies including survivors more than one year after stroke.

The purpose of this project is to better understand the nature of long-term changes after stroke with an emphasis on identifying the subtle and often missed problems a stroke survivor may experience. We are conducting a 3-year study with more than 200 stroke survivors where we carry out yearly detailed in-person neuropsychology assessments and clinical interviews. We aim to include people who are often excluded from stroke research, such as those with cognitive, language and other health-related problems.

Understanding the complexity of specific impairments following stroke and the impact these problems have on an individual’s daily life over time will allow for the development of meaningful interventions and overall better support for stroke survivors.