Is Predicting Early Stroke Risk After TIA as Easy as ABCD?

Researchers in Britain have developed a simple scoring method to predict the 7-day risk for stroke after transient ischemic attack (TIA). They derived it from . . .

Researchers in Britain have developed a simple scoring method to predict the 7-day risk for stroke after transient ischemic attack (TIA). They derived it from 209 patients with probable or definite TIA enrolled in the population-based Oxford Community Stroke Project (OCSP). Then they validated the method in 190 patients in the population-based Oxford Vascular Study (OXVASC). Finally, they used the score to risk-stratify all 378 patients with suspected TIA referred to OXVASC and 210 patients referred to a hospital-based weekly TIA clinic.

The 6-point, OCSP-derived score was based on four clinical factors:

Age ≥60 years (1 point)
Blood pressure: systolic >140 mm Hg and/or diastolic ≥90 mm Hg (1 point)
Clinical features: unilateral weakness (2 poi…

Reviewing Author

Beat J. Meyer, MD