Risks of cardiovascular events after acute ischemic stroke and intra-cranial hemorrhage

Abstract

Abstract Background The occurrence of acute ischemic stroke and intra-cranial hemorrhage (ICH) would result in severe stress for patients which may trigger cardiovascular (CV) events. In the present study, we aimed to report and compare the risks of CV events of patients who experienced ischemic stroke and ICH. Also, we analyzed the associations between the severities of stroke/ICH and risks of CV events. Methods A total of 413,000 and 131,313 patients who experienced acute ischemic stroke and ICH and did not have past history of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular arrhythmia (VA) were identified from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, respectively. Risks of CV events within 90 days after stroke and ICH were analyzed and compared. Results There were 2.77% and 1.75% of patients who suffered from CV events after ischemic stroke and ICH, respectively. The risks of AMI (odds ratio [OR] 0.702, 95%CI 0.618-0.798), HF (OR 0.708, 95%CI 0.661-0.759), AF (OR 0.534, 95%CI 0.502-0.569) and any events (OR 0.626, 95%CI 0.598-0.655) were lower for patients with ICH compared to those with ischemic stroke (Figure 1). For patients with acute ICH, the risks of CV events expect for AF significantly increased from mild to severe ICH (Figure 2). For patients with acute ischemic stroke, all the risks of CV events were higher among patients with severe stroke. Conclusions When managing patients with acute ischemic stroke and ICH, the risks of acute CV events should also be kept in mind. The impacts of acute CV events on the long-term prognosis of these patients deserve a further study.