One in three younger adults who suffer a stroke require assistance with daily activities or are unable to live independently a decade after the event, a new study has found.

According to Dutch researchers, around one in 10 strokes occur in people aged between 18 and 50. They decided to look closer at the functioning of over 700 people under the age of 50 who had suffered a stroke.

They found that after an average of nine years, one-third had some sort of disability and required assistance with some activities. Many were unable to carry out routine tasks, such as caring for themselves and household chores.

When they looked closer, the researchers found that the levels of disability varied depending on what type of stroke the person had suffered. For example, after an ischaemic stroke - this is the most common type of stroke and is caused by a blood clot in the brain - 36% had functional disability and 14% could not live independently.

After a haemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by a bleed in the brain, almost 50% had functional disability and at least 18% could not live independently.

Even after a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) - also known as a ‘mini-stroke' - 16% of people had functional disability and 10% had poor independence skills.

A TIA refers to a brief loss of blood supply to the brain, causing the person affected to experience brief symptoms of stroke, such as sudden weakness on one side of the body, sudden confusion or sudden vision problems. However, the blood supply is quickly restored and symptoms of the stroke completely disappear within 24 hours.

As a result, a TIA does not usually cause any permanent brain damage or disability, although it is a warning sign that you may be at risk of suffering a major stroke.

"Even if patients seem relatively well recovered with respect to motor function, there may still be immense ‘invisible' damage that leads to loss of independence," noted the study's senior author, Dr Frank-Erik de Leeuw, of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center.

The study found that participants did worse if they suffered another stroke during the follow-up period. For example, among the patients who did suffer a second stroke, one in three were dependent on others to help with daily activities, compared to one in 10 of those who did not suffer another stroke.

"Most doctors view young stroke patients as a group with great recovery opportunities. But our study is the first to show these almost life-long effects of stroke on performance. This is important to communicate right from the start to patients and families.

"We don't know if it's cognition, depression, problems in their families or relationships or other factors, but once we do, we can develop more effective interventions," Dr de Leeuw added.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Stroke.