Quality of Life and Resilience of Patients With Juvenile Stroke: A Systematic Review

Abstract Background The incidence of juvenile stroke is increasing. Considering younger age of patients and the potential long-lasting disability, the consequences of juvenile stroke may have a greater societal impact than those of stroke in elder population. Methods A systematic review was performed in order to evaluate quality of life in juvenile stroke. All studies on quality of life in juvenile stroke published in PUBMED before March 1st, 2020. The search terms were “stroke”, “juvenile”, “young”, “adult”, “quality of life” and “resilience” were considered. After the abstract evaluation of 748 hits only six studies we identified as appropriate for the review. The age criterion for juvenile stroke was set as 55 years and younger. Results The studies have shown a decline of quality of life in at least 46% of patients with juvenile stroke. On average, quality of life was reduced by 37%. The following domains as measured on SF-36 were particularly impaired: physical role, physical functioning and emotional role. The factors influencing the quality of life in juvenile stroke were ability to return to work, post-stroke depression, functional outcome, level of education and age of stroke onset. Conclusions This systematic review shows a decline of quality of life in patients with juvenile stroke. Rehabilitation programs should consider the factors influencing quality of life in these patients in order to improve outcome of juvenile stroke. Patients who are unable to return to work should receive necessary social support. In addition, our data underline the importance of screening procedures for post-stroke depression in this population.