Abstract
Objectives:
To assess whether there are therapeutic and clinical differences between patients with a first acute stroke and those with recurrent stroke, and to evaluate therapeutic differences at admission and discharge.
Methods:
An epidemiological, observational, cross-sectional and single-center study was carried out in the emergency medicine department of a university hospital.
Over 6 consecutive months we assessed patients of both sexes of 18 yrs or older visited at the emergency room because of an acute vascular event as defined by American Stroke Association criteria.
Demographic, clinical and therapeutic variables were collected.
Results:
We found a relationship between sex (female) and onset of first stroke, but this was not statistically significant (p = 0.08). In our sample the risk factors most highly associated with first stroke onset were hypertension and dyslipidemia (p = 0.01 p = 0.02, respectively). An association between atrial fibrillation and sedentary life style with first stroke onset was found but was not significant (p = 0.08). We observed differences at admission and discharge, more specifically in the percentage of patients receiving antiplatelet treatment(35.6% vs. 78.6%) and statins (26.7% vs 85.7%). This association was not statistically significant, probably due to sample size.
Recurrent Stroke group: We observed a statistically significant difference between statin therapy at admission and at discharge (61.5% vs 80%, p = 0.02) which was not present with the antiplatelet therapy(77% vs 80%). Patients presenting recurrent stroke on admission more often treated with statins (61.5% vs. 26.7%, p 0.02) and antiplatelet drugs(76.9% vs. 35.6%, p 0.01) compared to patients presenting a first stroke episode. No statistically significant differences were found regarding treatment at discharge. Patients presenting with recurrent stroke had higher mortality during hospitalization although the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.10).
Conclusions:
We observed an active attitude in the treatment of cardiovascular risk factors at discharge with respect to admission in patients presenting a first stroke event and optimization of this treatment in patients presenting recurrent stroke.
To assess whether there are therapeutic and clinical differences between patients with a first acute stroke and those with recurrent stroke, and to evaluate therapeutic differences at admission and discharge.
Methods:
An epidemiological, observational, cross-sectional and single-center study was carried out in the emergency medicine department of a university hospital.
Over 6 consecutive months we assessed patients of both sexes of 18 yrs or older visited at the emergency room because of an acute vascular event as defined by American Stroke Association criteria.
Demographic, clinical and therapeutic variables were collected.
Results:
We found a relationship between sex (female) and onset of first stroke, but this was not statistically significant (p = 0.08). In our sample the risk factors most highly associated with first stroke onset were hypertension and dyslipidemia (p = 0.01 p = 0.02, respectively). An association between atrial fibrillation and sedentary life style with first stroke onset was found but was not significant (p = 0.08). We observed differences at admission and discharge, more specifically in the percentage of patients receiving antiplatelet treatment(35.6% vs. 78.6%) and statins (26.7% vs 85.7%). This association was not statistically significant, probably due to sample size.
Recurrent Stroke group: We observed a statistically significant difference between statin therapy at admission and at discharge (61.5% vs 80%, p = 0.02) which was not present with the antiplatelet therapy(77% vs 80%). Patients presenting recurrent stroke on admission more often treated with statins (61.5% vs. 26.7%, p 0.02) and antiplatelet drugs(76.9% vs. 35.6%, p 0.01) compared to patients presenting a first stroke episode. No statistically significant differences were found regarding treatment at discharge. Patients presenting with recurrent stroke had higher mortality during hospitalization although the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.10).
Conclusions:
We observed an active attitude in the treatment of cardiovascular risk factors at discharge with respect to admission in patients presenting a first stroke event and optimization of this treatment in patients presenting recurrent stroke.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 68 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Journal of Hypertension |
| Volume | 28 |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2010 |