It’s double the penalty. We already knew that a stroke could have very concrete consequences on health – oral and written language disorders, motor problems in the arm and hand, even epilepsy, loss of life expectancy or depression … But according to a new study from the City University of London (in the United Kingdom), stroke also has social consequences: following their stroke, many patients lose their friends.
To come to this painful conclusion, British scientists interviewed 87 patients, 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months after their stroke. Participants were asked to answer questionnaires regarding their friendships, the frequency of their contact with friends and family and their level of satisfaction with their social life.
Results ? For two thirds of those surveyed (63%), stroke clearly had a negative impact on their social life. Thus, before their stroke, 14% of patients “only” declared that they had only one friend or no friend; six months after the accident, that figure rises to 36% – of which 20% have no close friends. On the other hand, contact with the family and close friends and family remained fairly stable.
Aphasia, a factor of social isolation
Unsurprisingly, “people who suffer fromaphasia are most at risk of losing contact with their friends and their extended social network, ”explains Dr. Sarah Northcott, lead author of this study.
He adds, “We know that nurturing relationships with supportive people is critical to helping a person adjust to life after stroke. It is therefore very important to take into consideration the network of people supporting the accident victim during the post-stroke rehabilitation period. More generally, we need to consider how to prevent people with stroke and aphasia in our society from becoming socially isolated ”.
As a reminder, each year in France, 150,000 strokes are recorded, or 1 every 4 minutes! After a stroke, 1 in 5 people die in the following month; 3/4 of survivors have irreversible sequelae, including aphasia *.
*figures : http://www.franceavc.com
To read: Stroke, women need more time to recover.
