Health

When does the risk of stroke increase after a diagnosis with COVID-19?


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Stroke is a major cause of long-term disability. Prompt treatment is crucial to preventing brain damage or death, so it’s important to recognize the warning signs of a stroke and take action correctly. Abbreviation FAST stands for face down, arm weakness, difficulty speaking, 9-1-1 call time.

Previous studies have examined stroke risk in adults with COVID-19; however, the findings are inconsistent and have little focus particularly on older adults, who are at higher risk of stroke.

This study examined the risk of ischemic stroke, which is a stroke caused by a blocked blood vessel, in older adults diagnosed with COVID-19 by examining the health records of 37,379 Medicare beneficiaries age 65 or older.

The patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 between April 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021, and hospitalized for a stroke between January 1, 2019 and February 28, 2021.

However, stroke hospitalizations can occur before or after COVID-19 diagnosis, with cases occurring 7 days before diagnosis or 28 days after diagnosis are considered control periods.

The average participant was 80 years old when diagnosed with COVID-19 and 57% were women. More than 75% are non-Hispanic white adults; more than 10% are non-Hispanic black; less than 10% are Hispanic adults, and the remainder are adults from other racial or ethnic groups.

The study compared the risk of stroke in the days immediately before and after a COVID-19 diagnosis with the risk on the other days of the study or control period.

The results show that highest stroke risk occurred in the first three days after COVID-19 diagnosis – 10 times higher than during the control period.

After the first three days after a COVID-19 diagnosis, the risk of stroke rapidly decreased but remained higher than during the control period.

The lowest risk of stroke occurred after 15-28 days when stroke risk was 9% higher than during the control period.

A small group of participants, who were 65-74 years old, had a higher risk of stroke after a COVID-19 diagnosis, compared with people 85 years of age or older and those with no history of stroke. There were no differences in stroke risk with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.

The American Heart Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advocate that a COVID-19 vaccine, including a booster, is the best way to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection and prevent severe illness or disease. death, especially in people with cardiovascular disease or other medical conditions.

Study limitations include the potential for misclassification when using Medicare real-time preliminary disclosures, and possible inaccurate COVID-19 diagnosis dates due to limited testing availability, particularly especially in the early stages of the pandemic.

Later, COVID-19 testing on hospitalized patients became the norm, possibly contributing to the detection of a higher risk of stroke in the days immediately following a COVID-19 diagnosis. Finally, the results of the study may not apply to adults who are not beneficiaries in the Medicare fee-for-service system.

Source: Medindia



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