Transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) may be referred to as “mini-strokes,” but there’s nothing mini about the increased risk for stroke and heart attack which comes in their wake. A new study from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, published in the journal Stroke, emphasizes this point after finding that people with no history of coronary artery disease who experienced a TIA had approximately a one percent risk of heart attack per year — that’s double the risk found among people in the general population.
Characterized as the temporary disruption of blood flow to the brain, TIA symptoms may include numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg, confusion, double vision or loss of vision, dizziness and trouble walking or talking.
It isn’t uncommon for people who have experienced a mini-stroke to trivialize the event, says Dr. Roger Bonomo, director of stroke care at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “We need to take a look at blood vessels to the brain and heart because this symptom means you have a strong possibility of having vascular disease and the next symptom could be in your heart.”
“The next symptom could also be in your brain,” adds ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross. “After a TIA, a transient cerebral vascular event, the next symptom may be a real stroke with resulting paralysis and speech impairment, requiring prolonged rehabilitation.”
In the study, people under the age of 60 had a more pronounced increased risk of heart attack due to the fact that the baseline risk of heart attack goes up for people over 60.
Risk factors for TIA (as well as for other vascular diseases) include smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, so people should quit smoking (or better yet, don’t start), take statins to control high cholesterol and use anti-hypertensive drugs to lower their blood pressure and risk for heart attack after a TIA.