The results suggest that addressing fatigue in individuals who experience transient ischemic attacks may be important.

Over half of the participants experienced general fatigue 1 year after their transient ischemic attack.

A recent study published in Neurology , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, examined fatigue following a transient ischemic attack. The Danish Physiotherapy Association funded this research.

Due to such health-related concerns, doctors and other medical experts are interested in the long-term struggles people may face after a transient ischemic attack.

Transient ischemic attacks — sometimes referred to as “ministrokes” — involve a temporary blockage to the brain’s blood supply. People who experience a transient ischemic attack may go on to experience a stroke later on.

Researchers collected other participant data as well, such as age, the type and duration of transient ischemic attack symptoms, and previous history of anxiety or depression.

Participants underwent MRI scans to see if they had acute infarction, which refers to injury or death of brain tissue resulting from the blockage in blood flow.

The initial baseline assessment happened an average of around 20 days after participants experienced their transient ischemic attack symptoms. Researchers then followed up with participants at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months.

Participants answered these questionnaires via email or letter. One domain of fatigue was general fatigue, where a score of 12 points or more indicated pathologic fatigue.

Researchers used two questionnaires to evaluate the participants’ fatigue levels. The first assessed fatigue in five different domains, and the second measured fatigue severity.

Researchers excluded certain individuals, such as those with terminal illnesses or those who were unable to fill out questionnaires. All participants received treatment for transient ischemic attack at Aalborg University Hospital’s stroke unit.

All participants had experienced a transient ischemic attack, were at least 18, and had started experiencing symptoms within the previous 30 days.

In all, 287 participants filled out the study’s baseline questionnaires, and 250 participants filled out the final questionnaire 12 months later.

Overall, there was a high likelihood of fatigue among participants. At baseline, just over 61% of participants had pathologic fatigue. At the 12-month mark, 53.8% of participants reported pathologic fatigue.

Over 60% of participants who experienced pathologic fatigue at baseline reported pathologic fatigue 12 months later. In contrast, only 22.5% of participants who did not have a score indicating pathologic fatigue at baseline reported pathologic fatigue at the 12-month mark.

The proportion of participants who experienced acute infarction was lower among those who experienced fatigue compared with those who did not experience fatigue. Among participants who had fatigue at baseline, 13.1% had acute infarction compared to 19.8% in the participant group who did not report fatigue at baseline.

Researchers further suggested that looking for acute ischemic lesions alone is not enough to predict who will experience fatigue after a transient ischemic attack. Previous anxiety or depression was twice as common in the group that reported baseline fatigue.