scholarly journals Intracranial Vertebrobasilar Calcification in Patients with Ischemic Stroke Is a Predictor of Recurrent Stroke, Vascular Disease, and Death: A Case-Control Study

Author(s):  
Jožef Magdič ◽  
Nino Cmor ◽  
Matevž Kaube ◽  
Tanja Hojs Fabjan ◽  
Larissa Hauer ◽  
...  

Intracranial artery calcification can be detected on nonenhanced brain computer tomography (NECT) and is a predictor of early vascular events. Here, we assessed the impact of vertebrobasilar artery calcification (VBC) on the long-term risk for recurrent stroke and vascular events. We performed a case-control trial of all consecutive stroke patients admitted to the University Hospital of Maribor, Slovenia over a period of 14 months. VBC was defined as presence of a hyperdense area within vertebrobasilar arteries that exceeds > 90 Hounsfield units as seen on NECT. Clinical follow-up information was obtained from the hospital documentation system and mortality registry of the district and included recurrent stroke, subsequent vascular events (myocardial infarction, heart failure, peripheral arterial occlusive disease), and death. We followed a total of 448 patients for a median of 1505 days (interquartile range, IQR 188-2479). Evidence for VBC was present in 243 (54.2%) patients. Median age was 76 years, recurrent stroke occurred in 33 (7.4%), any vascular events in 71 (15.8%), and death in 276 (61.6%). VBC was associated with a higher risk of recurrent stroke (hazard ratio, HR 3.13, 95% confidence interval (CI 1.35–7.20)) and vascular events (HR 2.05, 95% CI 1.21–3.47). Advanced age, male gender, and ischemic stroke involving the entire anterior circulation raised the likelihood for death. We conclude that the presence of VBC in patients with ischemic stroke is a short- and long-term prognostic factor for stroke recurrence and subsequent manifestation of acute vascular disease. Further understanding of the pathophysiology of VBC is warranted.

Hypertension ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Abuzaid ◽  
Sara Almuslem ◽  
Farah Aleisa

Background: Hypertension is considered major risk factor for incidence of ischemic stroke, controlling blood pressure reduces this risk, the relationship of uncontrolled blood pressure and stroke outcomes is complex, post stroke uncontrolled blood pressure remains one of the major contributing factors for stroke recurrence and mortality, in our study we studied the long term effects of uncontrolled hypertension in modern health care setting. Methodology: Patients in the study were admitted to the neurology department at KFSH-D between March 2015- August 2019, we included 102 acute ischemic stroke patients whom had hypertension, all patients had follow up appointments at stroke clinic a minimum of 2 visits over 4 years. We retrospectively compared blood pressure data from stroke patients with recurrent ischemic stroke events vs. patients with initial stroke event, and recurrent stroke, also we studied blood pressure readings for different stroke severity groups, patients who had severe stroke with mRS>4, compared to milder stroke group of mRS<4. Results: We found 48 patients identified with recurrent stroke event, those with uncontrolled hypertension had significantly higher stroke recurrence events (P=0.002), despite acute stroke treatment, patients who had history of uncontrolled hypertension were found to have more severe stroke deficits than those who had controlled blood pressure (P=0.029). We found significant difference in the long term stroke clinical outcomes between patients who had uncontrolled blood pressure and patients who had controlled blood pressure recordings within the same hospital setting (P=0.064). Conclusion: Based on our findings, uncontrolled hypertension was associated with higher risk of stroke recurrence, it also increased susceptibility to worse stroke clinical outcomes up to 1 year after initial stroke event, which deserved further close attention and better blood pressure control.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254562
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Davis Armstrong ◽  
Wei-Min Chen ◽  
Fang-Chi Hsu ◽  
Michael S. Brewer ◽  
Natalia Cullell ◽  
...  

Aberrant DNA methylation profiles have been implicated in numerous cardiovascular diseases; however, few studies have investigated how these epigenetic modifications contribute to stroke recurrence. The aim of this study was to identify methylation loci associated with the time to recurrent cerebro- and cardiovascular events in individuals of European and African descent. DNA methylation profiles were generated for 180 individuals from the Vitamin Intervention for Stroke Prevention clinical trial using Illumina HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip microarrays, resulting in beta values for 470,871 autosomal CpG sites. Ethnicity-stratified survival analyses were performed using Cox Proportional Hazards regression models for associations between each methylation locus and the time to recurrent stroke or composite vascular event. Results were validated in the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital cohort from Barcelona, Spain. Network analyses of the methylation loci were generated using weighted gene coexpression network analysis. Primary analysis identified four significant loci, cg04059318, ch.2.81927627R, cg03584380, and cg24875416, associated with time to recurrent stroke. Secondary analysis identified three loci, cg00076998, cg16758041, and cg02365967, associated with time to composite vascular endpoint. Locus cg03584380, which is located in an intron of ZDHHC6, was replicated in the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital cohort. The results from this study implicate the degree of methylation at cg03584380 is associated with the time of recurrence for stroke or composite vascular events across two ethnically diverse groups. Furthermore, modules of loci were associated with clinical traits and blood biomarkers including previous number of strokes, prothrombin fragments 1 + 2, thrombomodulin, thrombin-antithrombin complex, triglyceride levels, and tissue plasminogen activator. Ultimately, these loci could serve as potential epigenetic biomarkers that could identify at-risk individuals in recurrence-prone populations.


Neurology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (12) ◽  
pp. e1298-e1308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marios K. Georgakis ◽  
Marco Duering ◽  
Joanna M. Wardlaw ◽  
Martin Dichgans

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between baseline white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in patients with ischemic stroke and long-term risk of dementia, functional impairment, recurrent stroke, and mortality.MethodsFollowing the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PROSPERO protocol: CRD42018092857), we systematically searched Medline and Scopus for cohort studies of ischemic stroke patients examining whether MRI- or CT-assessed WMH at baseline are associated with dementia, functional impairment, recurrent stroke, and mortality at 3 months or later poststroke. We extracted data and evaluated study quality with the Newcastle–Ottawa scale. We pooled relative risks (RR) for the presence and severity of WMH using random-effects models.ResultsWe included 104 studies with 71,298 ischemic stroke patients. Moderate/severe WMH at baseline were associated with increased risk of dementia (RR 2.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.72–2.73), cognitive impairment (RR 2.29, 95% CI 1.48–3.54), functional impairment (RR 2.21, 95% CI 1.83–2.67), any recurrent stroke (RR 1.65, 95% CI 1.36–2.01), recurrent ischemic stroke (RR 1.90, 95% CI 1.26–2.88), all-cause mortality (RR 1.72, 95% CI 1.47–2.01), and cardiovascular mortality (RR 2.02, 95% CI 1.44–2.83). The associations followed dose-response patterns for WMH severity and were consistent for both MRI- and CT-defined WMH. The results remained stable in sensitivity analyses adjusting for age, stroke severity, and cardiovascular risk factors, in analyses of studies scoring high in quality, and in analyses adjusted for publication bias.ConclusionsPresence and severity of WMH are associated with substantially increased risk of dementia, functional impairment, stroke recurrence, and mortality after ischemic stroke. WMH may aid clinical prognostication and the planning of future clinical trials.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Hazem Kamal ◽  
Mohamed Khodery ◽  
Hassan Elnady ◽  
Ahmed Borai ◽  
Jan Hendrik Schaefer ◽  
...  

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The burden of stroke weighs heavily in developing countries where recurrence rates clearly exceed that of developed countries. The impact of nonadherence to antithrombotic treatment within this context has been poorly investigated. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> The objective of this study was to evaluate patients with recurrent ischemic stroke in Egypt and Germany with focus on stroke subtype distribution and adherence to antithrombotic therapy. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We conducted a comparative cross-sectional retrospective cohort study enrolling consecutive patients hospitalized for recurrent ischemic stroke in 2017 in 2 academic centers. Data were collected on demographics, risk factors, stroke subtypes, and medication adherence. Nonadherence to antithrombotic agents was analyzed at the time point of index stroke (recurrent stroke). Predictors of nonadherence were analyzed using logistic regression. <b><i>Results:</i></b> A total of 373 Egyptian and 468 German patients with ischemic stroke were included. The proportion of recurrent ischemic stroke among all patients was higher in the Egyptian cohort compared to the German cohort (33 vs. 10%, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). Small-vessel occlusion stroke was the most frequent subtype in Egyptians, with a significantly greater proportion than in Germans (45 vs. 26%, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). Nonadherence to antiplatelets at the time point of the recurrent stroke was higher in Egyptians than in Germans (82 vs. 19%, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). Low educational attainment among Egyptians (OR 0.14, 95% CI [0.00–0.19], <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.01) and high comorbidity scores among Germans (OR 2.45, 95% CI [1.06–5.66], <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05) were found to be predictors of nonadherence to antithrombotic treatment. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The large stroke recurrence burden in Egypt may be partly explained by differing adherence to secondary preventative antithrombotic pharmacotherapy. Predictors of medication nonadherence have to be addressed to reduce stroke recurrence disparities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Anxin Wang ◽  
Shuang Cao ◽  
Xue Tian ◽  
Yingting Zuo ◽  
Xia Meng ◽  
...  

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Serum potassium abnormality is a risk factor of incident stroke, but whether it is associated with recurrent stroke in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the association of serum potassium with the risk of recurrent stroke in patients with AIS or TIA. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We included 12,425 patients from the China National Stroke Registry III. Patients were classified into 3 groups according to tertiles of potassium. The outcomes were recurrence of stroke and combined vascular events at 1 year. Cox proportional hazards regression was adopted to explore the associations by calculating hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). <b><i>Results:</i></b> Among 12,425 enrolled patients, the median (interquartile range) of potassium was 3.92 (3.68–4.19) mmol/L. Compared with the highest tertile, after adjusted for confounding factors, the lowest tertile potassium was associated with increased risk of recurrent stroke at 1 year. The adjusted HR with 95% CI was 1.21 (1.04–1.41). There was an independent, linear association between serum potassium and stroke recurrence. Per 1 mmol/L decrease of potassium was associated with 19% higher risk of recurrent stroke (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.04–1.37). Similar trends were found in ischemic stroke and combined vascular events. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Lower serum potassium level was independently associated with elevated risk of recurrent stroke in patients with AIS or TIA. The finding suggested that monitoring serum potassium may help physicians to identify patients at high risk of recurrent stroke and to stratify risk for optimal management.


Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 2395-2403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Xu ◽  
Gulbahram Yalkun ◽  
Meng Wang ◽  
Anxin Wang ◽  
Runqi Wangqin ◽  
...  

Background and Purpose: Infection occurs commonly in patients with acute ischemic stroke. We aimed to investigate the association of infection with short- and long-term risk of recurrent stroke in patients with ischemic stroke. Methods: Data were derived from ischemic stroke patients in 2 stroke registries: the CSCA (Chinese Stroke Center Alliance) program recorded medical data during hospitalization, and the CNSR-III (Third China National Stroke Registry) recorded the medical data during hospitalization and finished 1-year follow-up. Associations of infection (pneumonia or urinary tract infection) during hospitalization with recurrent stroke in short (during hospitalization) and long term (since 30 days to 1 year after stroke onset) were analyzed. Short-term outcomes were analyzed with logistic models and long-term outcomes with Cox models. Results: In the CSCA (n=789 596), the incidence of infection during hospitalization reached 9.6%. Patients with infection had a higher risk of stroke recurrence during hospitalization compared with patients without infection (10.4% versus 5.2%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.70 [95% CI, 1.65–1.75]; P <0.0001). In the CNSR-III (n=13 549), the incidence of infection during hospitalization was 6.5%. Infection during hospitalization was significantly associated with short-term risk of recurrent stroke (7.4% versus 3.9%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.40 [95% CI, 1.05–1.86]; P =0.02) but not with long-term risk of recurrent stroke (7.2% versus 5.2%; adjusted hazard ratio, 1.16 [95% CI, 0.88–1.52]; P =0.30). Conclusions: Infection was an independent risk factor for high risk of early stroke recurrence during hospitalization, but we have not found its sustained effect on long-term recurrent risk in patients with acute ischemic stroke.


Stroke ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Penglian Wang ◽  
Xingquan Zhao ◽  
Yongjun Wang ◽  
Liping Liu ◽  
Anxin Wang ◽  
...  

Objective: In-hospital medical complications are common and costly. Outcomes of stroke patients are affected by medical complications. However, there are limited data investigating the effect of medical complications on stroke recurrence worldwide. We prospectively and systematically investigated the effect of in-hospital medical complications on recurrent stroke of patients with acute ischemic stroke at 3, 6 and 12 months in the China National Stroke Registry (CNSR). Methods: Prospective cohort study collected data of adult patients with acute ischemic stroke in 132 clinical centers distributed in 32 provinces and 4 municipalities (including Hong Kong region) of China, from September 2007 to August 2008. Data on in-hospital medical complications, recurrent stroke, adherence to stroke secondary prevention and other relative information were obtained from paper-based registry forms. Medical complications were associated with stroke outcomes using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Of the 10306 study patients, recurrent stroke occurred in 1637 (15.9%) within 12 months after stroke onset. In-hospital medical complications were independent risk factors for stroke recurrence in patients with acute ischemic stroke at 3 months (adjusted OR=2.19; 95% CI 1.85 to 2.60), 6 months (adjusted OR=2.04; 95% CI 1.74 to 2.38), and 12 months (adjusted OR=1.88; 95% CI 1.62 to 2.19) after onset. In-hospital medical complications decreased the adherence to stroke secondary prevention, may indirectly resulting in increased recurrent stroke events. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that the short-term and long-term stroke recurrence of acute ischemic patients is significantly affected by in-hospital medical complications, possibly through decreasing the persistence of secondary prevention following acute ischemic stroke.


Author(s):  
Pamela N. Correia ◽  
Ivo A. Meyer ◽  
Ashraf Eskandari ◽  
Michael Amiguet ◽  
Lorenz Hirt ◽  
...  

Background Emerging yet contrasting evidence from animal and human studies associates ischemic preconditioning with improvement of subsequent stroke severity, although long‐term outcome remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to analyze how preceding cerebral ischemic events influence subsequent stroke severity and outcome. Methods and Results Data for this retrospective cohort study were extracted from ASTRAL (Acute Stroke Registry and Analysis of Lausanne). This registry includes a sample of all consecutive patients with acute ischemic strokes admitted to the stroke unit and/or intensive care unit of the Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. We investigated associations between preceding ischemic events (transient ischemic attacks or ischemic strokes) and the impact on subsequent stroke severity and clinical improvement within 24 hours, measured through National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, as well as 3‐month outcome, determined through a shift in the modified Rankin Scale. Of 3530 consecutive patients with ischemic stroke (43% women, median age 73 years), 1001 (28%) had ≥1 preceding cerebral ischemic events (45% transient ischemic attack, 55% ischemic stroke; 31% multiple events). After adjusting for multiple prehospital, clinical, and laboratory confounders, admission stroke severity was significantly lower in patients preconditioned through a preceding ischemic event, but 24‐hour improvement was not significant and 3‐month outcome was unfavorable. Conclusions Preceding ischemic events were independently associated with a significant reduction in subsequent stroke severity but worsened long‐term clinical outcome. These results, if confirmed by future randomized studies, may help design neuroprotective strategies. The unfavorable effect on stroke outcome is probably a consequence of the cumulative disability burden after multiple ischemic events.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting-Ann Wang ◽  
Tzy-Haw Wu ◽  
Shin-Liang Pan ◽  
Hsiu-Hsi Chen ◽  
Sherry Yueh-Hsia Chiu

AbstractAspirin and nicametate are well-established therapies for preventing recurrence and mortality from stroke in patients diagnosed as ischemic stroke. However, their respective effects on the recurrence, making allowance for the duration of recurrence and death without the occurrence of recurrence, and long-term survival have not been well elucidated. We aimed to evaluate long-term effect of two kinds of treatment on cerebrovascular death among ischemic stroke patients with or without the recurrence of stroke. Data used in this study were derived from the cohort based on a multicenter randomized double-blind controlled trial during 1992 to 1995 with the enrollment of a total of 466 patients with first-time non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke who were randomly allocated to receive aspirin (n = 222) or nicametate (n = 244). The trial cohort was followed up over time to ascertain the date of recurrence within trial period and death until Sep of 2019. The time-dependent Cox regression model was used to estimate the long-term effects of two treatments on death from cerebrovascular disease with and without recurrence. A total of 49 patients experienced stroke recurrence and 89 cerebrovascular deaths was confirmed. Patients treated with nicametate were more likely, but non statistically significantly, to have recurrence (aHR: 1.73, 95% CI 0.96–3.13) as compared with those treated by aspirin. Nicametate reduced the risk of cerebrovascular death about 37% (aHR: 0.63, 95% CI 0.41–0.97) compared with aspirin. The aspirin group had a lower recurrence rate than the nicametate group even with recurrence after 1–2 years of follow-up of first stroke but the latter had significantly reduced death from cerebrovascular disease for nicametate group, which requires more research to verify.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisha Hou ◽  
Mier Li ◽  
Ju Wang ◽  
Yawen Li ◽  
Qianwen Zheng ◽  
...  

AbstractThe relationship between exercise and stroke recurrence is controversial. This study was designed to test whether an association exists between exercise and ischemic stroke recurrence in first-ever ischemic stroke survivors. Data were collected from January 2010 to June 2016. Baseline information was obtained during face-to-face interviews, and follow-up phone interviews were conducted every 3 months. Exercise type, frequency, intensity, and duration were recorded. Discrete-time survival analysis was used to determine the relationship between exercise and stroke recurrence. 760 first-ever ischemic stroke survivors who were able to exercise were enrolled. After adjusting for covariates, patients who exercised 3.5–7 h per week and more than 7 h per week had a lower relapse risk than patients who did not exercise (3.5–7: OR 0.415; > 7: OR 0.356). Moreover, if the fluctuation of exercise duration was over 4 h, the patients had a higher risk of stroke recurrence than those with variability of less than 2 h (OR 2.153, P = 0.013). Stroke survivors who engage in long-term regular mild exercise (more than 5 sessions per week and lasting on average 40 min per session) have a lower recurrence rate. Irregular exercise increases the risk of stroke recurrence.


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