The Association Between an Antecedent of Transient Ischemic Attack Prior to Onset of Stroke and Functional Ambulatory Outcome

BACKGROUND: Specific clinical risk factors linked to transient ischemic attack (TIA) could affect functional ambulatory outcome following thrombolytic therapy in patients having ischemic stroke with a prior TIA (TIA-ischemic stroke). This issue was investigated in this study. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data from 6379 ischemic stroke patients of which 1387 presented with an antecedent TIA prior to onset of stroke. We used logistic regression model to identify demographic and clinical risk factors that are associated with functional ambulatory outcome in patients with TIA-ischemic stroke treated with thrombolytic therapy. RESULTS: In a population of TIA-ischemic stroke who received recombinant tissue plasminogen activator, patients with a history of stroke (odds ratio [OR] = 3.229, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.494-6.98, P = .003) were associated with increasing odds of improvement in functional ambulation, while the female gender (OR = 0.462, 95% CI = 0.223-0.956, P = .037) was associated with reducing odds of improvement. In the non-TIA group, dyslipidemia (OR = 1.351, 95% CI = 1.026-1.781, P = .032) and blood glucose (OR = 1.003, 95% CI = 1.0-1.005, P = .041) were associated with the increasing odds of improvement while older patients (OR = 0.989, 95% CI = 0.98-0.999, P = .029) with heart failure (OR = 0.513, 95% CI = 0.326-0.808, P = .004) and higher lipid level (OR = 0.834, 95% CI = 0.728-0.955, P = .009) were associated with reducing odds of improvement in ambulation. CONCLUSION: In a population of TIA-ischemic stroke with thrombolytic therapy and a clearly defined TIA without focal ischemic injury, regardless of associated clinical risk factors, a TIA prior to a stroke is not associated with reducing odds of improved ambulatory outcome, except in female patients with TIA-ischemic stroke.