The world’s largest research study is to take place in the UK, which will investigate links between COVID-19 and life-threatening strokes.
The study will use health data from nearly all UK adults, which will allow researchers to follow the health of COVID-19 patients.
Data analysts will compare stroke in patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 with patients without the virus, to confirm if the virus increases risk of stroke and by how much.
The study – funded by The Stroke Association – will also analyse stroke risk and characteristics including age, sex, ethnicity and geography to identify which COVID-19 patients may be most at risk of stroke.
Stroke risk due to COVID-19 will be compared to increases in stroke risk due to other infections and cardiovascular conditions.
The study will build on the work of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK (HDR UK).
“Stroke already strikes every five minutes and we’re extremely concerned that COVID-19 may lead to more strokes, destroying more lives,” says Dr Rubina Ahmed, research director of the Stroke Association.
“Equally concerning are reports that stroke patients who have COVID-19 may be younger, and experience more severe effects of stroke, including death.
“Severe illness due to COVID-19 is a challenge enough – but it’s worrying that a deadly stroke might also be on the way. This new research can help guide the development of new treatments that can prevent life-threatening strokes.”
This research forms part of the CVD-COVID-UK flagship project consortium, which is led by the BHF Data Science Centre at HDR UK. This consortium aims to understand the relationship between Covid-19 and cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke in the UK population.
Dr William Whiteley, reader in neurology at the University of Edinburgh and a lead on this research, says: “COVID-19 may cause stroke in some patients. So far studies of Covid and stroke have been small.
“More data will improve our understanding and give a better idea of the risks of stroke after COVID-19 infection. With the funding of the Stroke Association and access to the data and research community brought together by the BHF Data Science Centre, the team can use health information from nearly all adults in the UK.
“By working with information specialists, we’ll be able to accurately detect even the smallest increase in risk of stroke across different groups of people.”
Dr Ahmed continues: “We will be living with COVID-19 for the foreseeable future and we don’t want to see the pandemic leave more deadly strokes in its wake.
“Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability in the UK and the second biggest killer in the world. This research is crucial to our understanding of COVID-19 and strokes, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
