Project 460563

Stroke is a leading cause of disability and premature death worldwide. The need for improved understanding of stroke outcomes is therefore a great need in public health. Multimorbidity, defined as 2 or more long-term health conditions, is very common in those who survive an initial stroke as the risk of stroke increases with age. Therefore, it is particularly important to understand the impact of multimorbidity on outcomes after transient ischemic attack (TIA) and stroke. However, despite how common multimorbidity is in patients who experience a TIA or stroke, the impacts of multimorbidity outcomes following TIA and stroke are relatively unknown. Therefore, the aim of my thesis is to better understand the interconnected links between multimorbidity (i.e. multiple long-term conditions) on a range of patient outcomes after a TIA or stroke). Such outcomes will include: mortality, stroke severity, functional recovery, stroke recurrence, risk of bleeding on antiplatlet treatment (blood thinning medication recommended for stroke survivors), institutionalization (i.e. long-term care), and others.