Who’s at Risk for Stroke After TIA?

From 4% to 20% of patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) progress to stroke within 90 days, half within the first 48 hours. How do we identify patients at greatest risk? Researchers first validated two recently developed prognostic scores — the California score (designed to predict stroke within 90 days) and the ABCD score (designed to predict stroke within 7 days; see Journal Watch Emergency Medicine Aug 23 2005) — and then combined the two systems and validated the resulting new score, termed ABCD² (designed to predict stroke within 2 days).

The scores were derived in two groups of patients (totaling 1916) and validated in four groups of patients (totaling 2893) from emergency departments, clinics, and population-based cohorts in …