High rates of recurrent stroke and death suggest need to improve secondary prevention
TUESDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) -- In South Carolina, patients hospitalized for an initial stroke have an elevated short- and long-term risk of recurrent stroke, heart attack, vascular death, and all-cause death, according to a study in the Feb. 16 issue of Neurology.
Wuwei Feng, M.D., of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and colleagues studied outcomes in 10,399 South Carolina stroke patients who were discharged in 2002.
At one month, six months, one year, two years, three years, and four years, the researchers found the risk for composite events (recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction, or death) was 13.6, 19.5, 24.7, 31.6, 36.8, and 41.3 percent, respectively. They also found that an increased risk of composite events was associated with age, African-American versus Caucasian race, two or more comorbidities versus less than two, and subarachnoid hemorrhage or intracerebral hemorrhage versus ischemic stroke (hazard ratios, 1.38, 1.12, 1.67, 1.34, respectively).
"Our findings suggest considerable improvement in secondary stroke prevention is needed to reduce those events in South Carolina," the authors conclude.
One author reported financial relationships with several pharmaceutical companies.
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