Contributing factors to quality of life after vertebral artery dissection: a prospective comparative study

BACKGROUND: Vertebral artery dissection (VAD) may cause cerebral ischemia and impair quality of life (QOL) despite of good functional outcome. The aim of this study was the multimodal analysis of patient characteristics after VAD to identify contributing factors. METHODS: In an exploratory study, 34 consecutive patients with first-ever spontaneous VAD were prospectively examined in comparison to 38 patients with cerebral ischemia without dissection and 25 stroke mimics as control groups. Multimodal assessment was performed for clinical, neurological, cognitive, psychological and radiological data at baseline and for QOL, functional outcome, and stress symptoms by questionnaire at six months follow-up. Subgroup analysis stratified for QOL by Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QOL) were done for patients with good functional outcome (modified Ranking Scale (mRS) scoring 0–2). Predictors for QOL at follow-up were analyzed by regression model. RESULTS: 88.2% of patients with VAD suffered from acute cerebral ischemia. Thirteen of 32 VAD patients (40.6%) rated QOL at follow-up as bad (SS-QOL score ≤ 3.9) despite of good functional outcome (mRS score 0–2). Subgroup analysis yielded significantly higher scores for posttraumatic stress symptoms (p = 0.002) in this subgroup. Posttraumatic stress symptoms, severity of neurological disorders, and impaired neuropsychological baseline performance proved to be independent predictors for reduced QOL at follow-up according to regression analysis. CONCLUSION: VAD leads to impaired QOL at 6 months follow-up due to multiple factors. The data suggest that posttraumatic stress symptoms are of significant importance for the QOL after VAD. Clinical monitoring should address this topic to make timely treatment possible.