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All strokes — even “mini-strokes” – not only shorten peoples’ lives, but also can significantly worsen quality of life, a new study finds. Researchers followed 748 people who had a stroke and 440 people who had a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or “mini-stroke.” TIAs don’t last as long as full-blown strokes and tend to have few lasting effects. People were followed for 5 years. Researchers measured their quality of life after stroke with questionnaires. The results show that a stroke, on average, costs a person 1.71 out of 5 years of perfect health due to an earlier death. And stroke costs another 1.08 years due to reduced quality of life. When the researchers combined the two measures, people who have a stroke lose 2.79 years, on average, of “quality-adjusted life years.” The more severe the stroke, the greater the loss.