Abstract TP75: Age at Time of Stroke Does Not Predict Post-Stroke Fatigue

Abstract

Introduction: Post-stroke fatigue (PSF) is a long-term sequelae of stroke that negatively impacts patients and their rehabilitation. Approximately 38% of people hospitalized for a stroke are less than 65 years old. Studies regarding PSF and age are sparse and vary in their results. We examined whether age at time of ischemic stroke correlates with the severity of PSF of ischemic stroke patients in a predominantly Afro-Caribbean population. Methods: An IRB-approved prospective, observational study. Patients above 18 years of age with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke in the past 3 years were enrolled after informed consent. Patients with treated depression, significant cognitive impairment, or active cancer were excluded. The Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) was used to measure the level of PSF. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between age at time of stroke and severity of FAS score, adjusted for sex, NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Modified Rankin Scale (mRS), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores. A general linear model was used to predict log-log-transformed total FAS score from age at stroke, BDI score, mRS score, NIHSS score, and sex. First-order interactions among predictors were investigated; model residuals were examined for skew and for outliers. Results: Of the 121 patients included, 55.4% are female, the mean age is 65.3 +/- 12.1 years old, 93.4% have hypertension, and 60.3% have diabetes mellitus. The median FAS score is 19 (IQR 15-25), median NIHSS score is 3 (IQR 2-5), and median mRS score is 1 (IQR 0-2). Crude Spearman Correlation between age at stroke and total FAS score was -0.07. Age at stroke was not an independent predictor of FAS score (p=0.545). R 2 for the model was 0.38. Both BDI score (p<0.001) & mRS score (p=0.024) were positively associated with transformed FAS score. Conclusion: Our data suggests that age at time of stroke is not independently correlated with severity of PSF in a predominantly Afro-Caribbean population.