Stroke Survival Rate

When it comes to predicting the overall stroke survival rate the most important factors are the age of the patient and the severity of the stroke itself. As such, older patients or those with severe levels of neurological impairment are least likely to survive. Indeed, for every additional point a patient scores on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale their odds of survival beyond 3 months fall by 17%.

Age and Survival Rates

A Canadian study investigated the mortality rates of hospitalized stroke patients. The report found that, of patients aged over 80, 24.2% died during their time in hospital. This compares to mortality rates of 13.4% and 8.6% for 70-79-year-olds and 60-69-year-olds respectively. While among patients younger than 59 the mortality rate was 5.7%.

Adding credence to such findings, the evident correlation between increased age and higher mortality was replicated in the results of a Bosnian study. In this second study, whereas 81% of patients aged over 70 did not survive, only 43% of those aged under 50 died.

Long Term Survival Rates

A longitudinal Danish study charted the survival rates of more than 5,000 patients over the course of nearly 20 years. The results found that in the first 28 days following a stroke, the mortality rate stood at 28%. Over the longer-term, the researchers noted that at post-stroke intervals of 1 year and 5 years, the mortality rate increased to 41% and 60% respectively.

Interestingly, these findings broadly tally with those of an earlier Russian study, which noted a similar longitudinal trend. More specifically, the Russian researchers found that the 3-week mortality rate of 37% progressively increased to 76.5% by the 7-year mark.

Influence of Stroke Type

A team of Dutch researchers charted the effect of stroke type on the long-term survival rates of a cohort of patients aged 18-50. At the 20 year mark, of those patients who survived beyond 30 days, 26.8% of ischemic stroke patients had died. By way of comparison, the equivalent figures for transient ischemic attack patients and intracerebral hemorrhage patients were 24.9% and 13.7% respectively.      However, a Bosnian study of first-time stroke patients found lower long term mortality rates among ischemic stroke patients than among intracerebral hemorrhage patients. Indeed, at the 1-year mark, of those patients who survived for 1 month, the respective figures were 40% and 62%. Moreover, by the 5-year mark, the respective figures were 69% and 76%.

Progress

Between 1990 and 2010 stroke mortality rates in the United Kingdom dropped by a whopping 46%. Similarly, in the United States, between 1997 and 2007, the number of stroke deaths fell by 19%. Moreover, the risk of stroke before 65 has also fallen from 20% to 15%.

It’s widely held that the principal factors behind the aforementioned trend are improved treatment techniques and enhanced preventive measures. Bearing this out in part, are findings which suggest that the overall stroke survival rate is related to the quality of hospital care. In this regard, higher-quality hospitals have much lower mortality rates (9.8%) than lower-quality institutions (17.8%).