People who have had a very mild form of stroke called a transient ischemic attack, or TIA, are at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, with almost one-third of people later diagnosed with PTSD, a study finds.
Earlier studies have shown that PTSD is more common in people who have had a full-blown stroke. Stroke patients also are more likely to be depressed and have lower quality of life.
This appears to be the first study to look exclusively at PTSD in people with TIAs, which typically last just a few minutes and don't have lasting symptoms.
The study followed 108 people in Germany who had had a TIA. Three months later, 32 of them met the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD, including re-experiencing the event. That rate is 10 times as high as in the general population. The people with PTSD were also more likely to have symptoms of anxiety and depression. The study was published Thursday in the journal Stroke.
[For more of this story, written by Nancy Shute, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/healt...ost-traumatic-stress]
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