FRIDAY, March 19, 2021 (HealthDay News) – A new study increasingly shows that COVID patients have an additional risk of stroke.
The researchers analyzed data from more than 20,000 adults in the US who were hospitalized with COVID-19 between January and November 2020. The analysis found that their risk of stroke was higher than that of people with other types of infections, including the flu.
“These results suggest that COVID-19 may increase the risk of stroke, although the exact mechanism behind this is still unknown,” said lead author Dr. Saate Shakil, a cardiologist at the University of Washington.
The new study found that 1.4% of COVID patients had a stroke, which was confirmed by diagnostic imaging.
Of these, 52.7% had an ischemic stroke (caused by blocked blood flow to the brain); 45.2% had a bleeding or an unspecified stroke; and 2.5% had a transient ischemic attack (also known as mini-stroke or TIA).
COVID patients who had had a stroke were more likely to be male (64%) and older (mean age: 65 years) than patients without a stroke (mean age: 61 years).
The study found that 44% of patients with ischemic stroke had type 2 diabetes, compared with about a third of those without stroke. Eight out of ten patients with ischemic stroke had high blood pressure compared with 58% of those without stroke.
The atrial fibrillation of the arrhythmia was found in 18% in patients with ischemic stroke and in 9% in patients without stroke.
Stroke patients were hospitalized for an average of 22 days – 12 days more than those without a stroke.
Hospital deaths were more than twice as high in stroke patients (37%) as in patients without a stroke (16%).
Black patients made up 27% of the COVID patients in the study and 31% of the ischemic stroke cases. This is evident from results presented at a virtual meeting of the American Stroke Association on Friday.
Research presented at meetings is generally considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
“As the pandemic continues, we are realizing that the coronavirus is not just a respiratory disease, but a vascular disease that can affect many organ systems,” Shakil said in a press release from the meeting.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about COVID-19.
Source: American Stroke Association, press release, March 19, 2021
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