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Our data showing no relationship of some arterial risk factors with VTE corroborate the view that the etiology of VTE differs from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. In addition, the findings suggest a hypothesis that avoidance of obesity and diabetes or vigilance in prophylaxis in patients with those conditions may prevent some venous thromboses.

Background and Purpose-Dysphagia screening before oral intake (DS) is a stroke care quality indicator. The value of DS is unproven. Quality adherence and outcome data from the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry were examined to establish value of DS. Methods-Adherence to the DS quality indicator was examined in patients with stroke discharged from Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry hospitals between March 1 and December 31, 2009. Patients were classified as unscreened (US), screened and passed (S/P), and screened and failed. Associations between screening status and pneumonia rate were assessed by logistic regression models after adjustment for selected variables. Results-A total of 18 017 patients with stroke discharged from 222 hospitals in 6 states were included. A total of 4509 (25%) were US; 8406 (47%) were S/P, and 5099 (28%) were screened and failed. Compared with US patients, screened patients were significantly more impaired. Pneumonia rates were: US 4.2%, S/P 2.0%, and screened and failed 6.8%. After adjustment for demographic and clinical features, US patients were at a higher risk of pneumonia (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.7 to 2.7) compared with S/P patients. Conclusions-Data suggest that patients are selectively screened based on stroke severity. Pneumonia rate was higher in US patients compared with S/P patients. Clinical judgment regarding who should be screened is imperfect. S/P patients have a lower pneumonia rate indicating that DS adds accuracy in predicting pneumonia risk. The Joint Commission recently retired DS as a performance indicator for Primary Stroke Center certification. These results suggest the need to implement a DS performance measure for patients with acute stroke. (Stroke. 2010;41:2849-2854.)

Early life factors may influence pulmonary function. We measured forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)) in 1985-1986 and 2, 5, and 10 years later in approximately 4,000 black and white men and women initially aged 18-30 years. We estimated the age pattern of FEV(1) according to family smoking status, early diagnosis of asthma, early smoking initiation, adult asthma, and cigarette smoking. FEV(1) followed a quadratic pattern from age of peak through age 40. The pattern varied by race and sex. Early smoking initiation was associated with a faster decrease in FEV(1). Smoking by family members was related to early life asthma and may have contributed to faster FEV(1) decrease by encouraging behaviors such as heavier smoking or earlier smoking initiation. Prevalence of smoking was 28% when no family member smoked, compared with 59% when four or more members smoked. The FEV(1) decline was 8.5% in never-smokers without asthma; 10.1% in nonsmoking individuals diagnosed with asthma; and 11.1% in baseline smokers who smoked 15 or more cigarettes per day. The combination of asthma and heavier smoking was synergistic (17.8% decline). This study delineates an increased rate of decline in those with asthma or in those who smoke cigarettes and implicates early life exposures as contributing to the faster rate of FEV(1) decline.

Background and Purpose-Low ankle-brachial index (ABI), which is the ratio of tibial artery systolic blood pressure to brachial systolic artery pressure, is known to be a measure of lower limb peripheral artery disease as well as a marker for other cardiovascular disease events. The ability of ABI to predict incident ischemic stroke, however, is not established in population-based studies. Methods-ABI was measured in a cohort of 14 839 black and white men and women aged 45 to 64 years. Stroke incidence was calculated during approximately 7 years of follow-up. Results-A total of 206 incident strokes occurred. Adjusted stroke incidence rates were markedly higher for those in the lowest versus the highest categories of ABI for men, women, blacks, and whites. The proportional hazards regression model, adjusted for age, race, gender, and field center, showed an inverse linear trend between ABI and ischemic stroke incidence (PϽ0.0001). The lowest group (ABI Ͻ0.80) had a hazard ratio of 5.68 (95% CI 2.77 to 11.66). After adjustment for major risk factors in a multivariate model, the hazard ratio in the lowest group was elevated (1.93) but no longer statistically significant (95% CI 0.78 to 4.78). There was, however, still an indication of an overall inverse linear trend between ABI and incident stroke (Pϭ0.03). Conclusions-Low ABI was strongly associated with increased incidence of ischemic stroke, but the relationship was substantially reduced after adjustment for major cardiovascular risk factors.

The aim of this study was to examine the occurrence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in relation to factor V-related risk factors. Using a nested case-control design combining 2 population-based prospective studies, we measured factor V Leiden, HR2 haplotype, activated protein C (APC) resistance, and plasma factor V antigen in 335 participants who developed VTE during 8 years of follow-up and 688 controls. The overall odds ratio (OR) of VTE was 3.67 (95% CI, 2.20-6.12) in participants carrying factor V Leiden compared with noncarriers. APC resistance measured after predilution with factor V-deficient plasma conferred an OR of 2.58 (95% CI, 1.62-4.10). All 3 participants homozygous for the HR2 haplotype had a VTE, and the OR of VTE for homozygosity was estimated to be 5.5 (95% CI, 2.45-12.5). Carriers of the HR2 haplotype otherwise were not at increased risk of VTE overall (OR ‫؍‬ 1.05; 95% CI, 0.64-1.72), but double heterozygotes for HR2 and factor V Leiden carried an OR of idiopathic VTE of 16.3 (95% CI, 1.7-159) compared with noncarriers. Factor V antigen also was not associated with VTE overall, but for participants with the combination of high factor V antigen plus factor V Leiden the OR of idiopathic VTE was 11.5 (95% CI, 4.2-31.4). In the general population, APC resistance and factor V Leiden were important VTE risk factors; homozygosity for the HR2 haplotype may be a risk factor but was rare; otherwise, HR2 haplotype and factor V antigen were not risk factors except in carriers of factor V Leiden. (Blood. 2002;99:2720-2725

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