The risk of ischemic stroke among older adults diagnosed with COVID-19 is highest within three days of diagnosis, preliminary research has revealed.
The findings are set to be presented next week at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference.
Findings from previous research in this area were inconsistent, and few focused on older adults who are at greater risk of stroke.
“Stroke following the diagnosis of COVID-19 is a possible complication of COVID-19 that patients and clinicians should be aware of,” said Quanhe Yang, Ph.D., lead study author and senior scientist in the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
“Vaccination and other preventive measures for COVID-19 are important to reduce the risk of infection and complications including stroke.”
The study examined the health records of 37,379 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and above.
The patients were diagnosed with the coronavirus between April 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021 and were hospitalised for stroke from January 1, 2019 to February 28, 2021.
Stroke hospitalisations could occur before or after the diagnosis of COVID-19, however, those that occurred seven days before diagnosis or 28 days after diagnosis served as a control period.
The analysis revealed that stroke risk was 10 times higher in the three days after Covid diagnosis than in the control period.
Stroke risk quickly declined after that but remained higher than in the control period.
The younger subset of patients aged 65-74 years old had a greater risk of stroke after Covid diagnosis that patients aged 85 and above and among those with no history of stroke.
Yang said:
“These findings can inform diagnosis, treatment and care of stroke among patients with COVID-19.
“Further studies are needed to clarify the age-dependent risk of stroke associated with COVID-19.”
A study published last year found that one in 10 patients hospitalised with COVID-19 will likely develop neurological complications such as stroke and haemorrhage.
