An observational study in TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack), sponsored by Newcastle University. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 40 Years to 85 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-10-03.
Sponsored by Newcastle University · Observational
Transient Ischaemic Attack (also known as TIA or 'mini-stroke') affects about 46,000 people in the UK each year. It is assumed that people recover fully within 24 hours. However, subtle problems with speaking, and confidence with their communication skills can be long-term. This project will be the first in depth exploration of speaking abilities after recent TIA where there seemed to be a full recovery.
The researchers will look for 90 volunteers for detailed testing. Thirty people who have had a TIA for the first time. For comparisons, the researchers will also include 60 volunteers without TIA (30 treated to prevent TIA and stroke; 30 who do not receive prevention treatments).
Aims and methods:
To find out if TIA makes speaking difficult.
People will complete speaking tasks in a quiet place. For example, people will be asked to tell us about their weekend, what they think about climate change.
To find out if people are concerned about their speech and other thinking skills after TIA.
People will fill in questionnaires to help us look into these issues.
Discovering new knowledge about spoken communication after a TIA diagnosis could change the course of TIA research and care across health professions (speech-language therapy, psychology, audiology, neurology). Future studies could use speaking tasks to scrutinise further the complexity of subtle communication problems after TIA and determine which individuals are likely to have these problems. The project will raise understanding of these issues, enabling affected individuals to seek professional support. Finally, it will also guide development of new TIA recommendations and treatments for these problems thus improving people's quality of life.
Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; (Nasreddine et al., 2005): Assesses general cognitive function; reliable and valid; different versions for repeated assessment (e.g., sentence repetition "I only know that John is the one to help today"; You'll hear a list of numbers and I'd like you to repeat them in the order you heard them).
Everyday Memory Questionnaire (Sunderland et al., 1986): Self-reported measure of cognitive skills many of which are about communication, language and reading (Likert scale) (e.g., forgetting the names of friends or relatives or calling them by the wrong names; getting lost or turning in the wrong direction on a journey or walk you have often been on).
Data analyses
For aims 1 and 2, the methods of analysis for each of the outcome measures is detailed below and will be in conducted in R.
Descriptive statistics by subgroup (medians, range, inter-quartile range) will be generated for each outcome measure (speech-related [primary, secondary], Everyday Memory Questionnaire, Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia).
Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance will be carried out for each outcome measure (alpha level .05). Post-hoc pairwise comparisons (using Dunn's test correction for multiple comparisons) for statistically significant results. Effect sizes will also be obtained.
Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia (Cherney et al., 2011): Self-reported confidence in communication activities (Likert scale) (e.g., how confident are you about your ability to talk with people? How confident are you that people understand you when you talk?)
Connected speech assessment tasks (Whitworth et al., 2015): Assesses connected speech skills, (e.g., can you tell me what you did last weekend? Can you remember a recent celebration such as a birthday, anniversary, wedding or party that you have been to? Can you tell me about it? What do you think about global warming and why?)
For aim 3, descriptive statistics (as above) will be generated for each outcome measure non-parametric Wilcoxon tests (alpha level 0.5) will be used. Effect sizes will also be obtained. These analyses will also be carried out in R.
329 studies on the registry are indexed under Ischemic Attack, Transient; 71 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 30 is below the median of 343 across 140 observational studies indexed under Ischemic Attack, Transient.
Browse Ischemic Attack, Transient studies →Newcastle University is the lead sponsor of 60 studies on the registry; 15 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
TIA group: Individuals who have had a recent single medically confirmed TIA following an in-person review at a TIA clinic.
Vascular risk factor group: People aged 40-75 with vascular risk factors (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia) who receive medical treatment for these conditions and have attended a TIA clinic but were not diagnosed with a TIA.
Healthy group: People aged 40-75 who have no self-reported vascular risk factors for which they take medication.
Inclusion Criteria: People aged 40-85 with a diagnosis of a single carotid circulation .
Exclusion Criteria:
Younger than 40 years or older than 85 years of age.
English as a secondary language.
Neurological conditions affecting cognitive function (e.g., Parkinson's disease, dementia, stroke).
Self-reported, pre-existing speech or cognitive problems, developmental or acquired.
Demonstrate noticeable difficulties carrying out project-related tasks.
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
A “mini-stroke”: temporary stroke-like symptoms caused by reduced blood flow to part of the brain, spinal cord or eye, without signs of a new stroke on a scan.
Stroke symptoms need emergency care at once, even if they go away.
TIA (transient ischaemic attack)
A “mini-stroke”: temporary stroke-like symptoms caused by reduced blood flow to part of the brain, spinal cord or eye, without signs of a new stroke on a scan.
Stroke symptoms need emergency care at once, even if they go away.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Speech rate
measured as number of words per minute
Time frame: From enrollment
Mean length of sentence
measured in number of words
Time frame: From enrollment
Sentence complexity
measured as number of complex sentences
Time frame: From enrollment
Functional Memory Questionnaire
Patient-reported measure of perceptions of memory, attention, language abilities; score range 0 to 140; higher scores mean a worse outcome
Time frame: From enrollment
Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia
Patient-reported measure of confidence of communication abilities; score range 0 to 600; higher scores mean worse outcome
Time frame: From enrollment
Filled pause rate
Number of filled paused (i.e., "um" "uh", "ehm") over total number of words
Time frame: From enrollment
Lexical richness
measured as number of unique words over total number of words
Time frame: From enrollment
Propositional idea density
using the Computerized Propositional Idea Density Rater - CPIDER3 - Brown et al. (2008)
Time frame: From enrollment
Plan to share: Undecided
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Newcastle University