After mild stroke, prevention clinic key

LONDON, Ontario, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Those who had a mild stroke had a 26 percent reduction in one-year mortality if referred to a stroke prevention clinic, Canadian researchers found.

Dr. Vladimir Hachinski of The University of Western Ontario reveals just how important it is for patients to be referred to a stroke prevention clinic following either a mild stroke or a transient ischemic attack.

The risk of stroke after a transient ischemic attack. may be as high as 20 percent in the first three months and half of the strokes occur in the first 24 to 48 hours after a transient ischemic attack.

Using data from the Registry of the Canadian Stroke Network, the researchers compared more than 16,000 patients with ischemic stroke seen in the emergency department or admitted to hospital in Ontario from July 1, 2003, to March 31, 2008.

"Organized stroke care works," Hachinski said in a statement. "It doesn't really matter about the size, location and hours of these clinics. Patients benefit because you have interested people with some expertise, following best practice standards and gaining experience from doing things repeatedly."

The findings were published in the journal Stroke.