About the Authors

Joan E. Mackintosh

Affiliation Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Madeleine J. Murtagh

Affiliation Department of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, Leicester University, Leicester, United Kingdom

Helen Rodgers

Affiliation Institute for Ageing and Health, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Richard G. Thomson

Affiliation Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Gary A. Ford

Affiliation Institute for Ageing and Health, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Martin White

martin.white@ncl.ac.uk

Affiliations Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Fuse, UKCRC Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

MW is funded, in part, as director of Fuse, UKCRC Centre for Translational Research in Public Health by BHF, CRUK, ESRC, MRC and NIHR. GF developed the Face Arm Speech Test and is a member of the Department of Health Stroke Programme Management Board. GF’s institution has received research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim and honoraria from Lundbeck for stroke related activities. GAF has also received personal remuneration for educational and advisory work from Boehringer Ingelheim and Lundbeck. GF and HR are NIHR Senior Investigators. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JM MW GF RT HR MM. Performed the experiments: JM. Analyzed the data: JM MM MW. Wrote the paper: JM MW MM RT HR GF.