title: White matter hyperintensities and quality of life in acute lacunar stroke.
abstract: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are common in stroke. The influence of WMH on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following a lacunar stroke is unknown. This study evaluated the impact of WMH on HRQoL in acute lacunar stroke. A cohort of 160 patients with acute lacunar stroke admitted to the stroke unit of a university-affiliated regional hospital in Hong Kong was recruited. Three months after the index stroke, a research assistant administered the Short Form-36 (SF-36) to assess HRQoL. The severity of WMH was evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In univariate analysis, the severity of deep WMH (DWMH) negatively correlated with patients' vitality (VT; p < 0.05), social function (SF; p < 0.001), role-emotional (RE; p < 0.01), mental health (MH; p < 0.01), and mental component summary (MCS; p < 0.001) scores of HRQoL. DWMH was independently associated with all of the above five SF-36 scores (p < 0.05) in linear regression analysis. These findings suggest that DWMH has a significant impact on the HRQoL of stroke survivors. The importance of DWMH in the long-term HRQoL in lacunar stroke warrants further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. tangwk@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Y K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.forename: Winnie C W
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: V C T
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Mok
authors.forename: Gabor S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Ungvari
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D059409:Stroke, Lacunar / Q000473:pathology*