BACKGROUND: There is little information in the literature on the risk of vascular events among patients after ischemic stroke at a young age. METHODS: We examined 144 (77%) of 187 long-term survivors of ischemic stroke and compared them with 167 controls. Mean age of the 187 survivors at inclusion was 41.0 years and mean age of the participating patients was 40.8 years. RESULTS: After a mean duration of observation of 11.8 years, we registered arterial events among 54 patients and 14 controls. Ninety patients with index stroke only had no significant risk factors compared with controls without arterial events. Compared with 54 patients with several arterial events, age, incidence of diabetes mellitus, smoking and family history of coronary disease were significantly lower. CONCLUSIONS: The results from index-stroke-only patients suggest that a subgroup of patients has a benign course, probably without chronic vascular disease.
BACKGROUND: There is little information in the literature on the risk of vascular events among patients after ischemic stroke at a young age. METHODS: We examined 144 (77%) of 187 long-term survivors of ischemic stroke and compared them with 167 controls. Mean age of the 187 survivors at inclusion was 41.0 years and mean age of the participating patients was 40.8 years. RESULTS: After a mean duration of observation of 11.8 years, we registered arterial events among 54 patients and 14 controls. Ninety patients with index stroke only had no significant risk factors compared with controls without arterial events. Compared with 54 patients with several arterial events, age, incidence of diabetes mellitus, smoking and family history of coronary disease were significantly lower. CONCLUSIONS: The results from index-stroke-only patients suggest that a subgroup of patients has a benign course, probably without chronic vascular disease.
Authors: Loes C A Rutten-Jacobs; Pim A J Keurlings; Renate M Arntz; Noortje A M Maaijwee; Henny C Schoonderwaldt; Lucille D Dorresteijn; Maureen J van der Vlugt; Ewoud J van Dijk; Frank-Erik de Leeuw Journal: PLoS One Date: 2014-01-23 Impact factor: 3.240