Long Term Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Ischemic Stroke in Primary care – A 9-year Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: We aim to document the long-term outcomes of ischemic stroke patients and explore the potential risk factors for recurrent cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in primary care.Methods: A retrospective cohort study performed at two general out-patient clinics (GOPCs) under Hospital Authority (HA) in Hong Kong (HK). Ischemic stroke patients with at least two consecutive follow-up visits during the recruitment period (1/1-30/6/2010) were enrolled. Patients were followed up regularly till the date of recurrent stroke, cardiovascular event, death or 31/12/2018. Risks of recurrent cardiovascular events and death were estimated by Cox proportional hazards model. The primary outcome was the occurrence of recurrent cerebrovascular event including transient ischemic stroke (TIA), ischemic stroke or hemorrhagic stroke. The secondary outcomes were all-cause mortality and coronary heart disease (CHD).Results: A total of 466 patients (mean age, 71.5 years) were enrolled. During a median follow-up period of 8.7 years, 158 patients (33.9%) died. Eighty patients (17.2%) had recurrent stroke and 57 (12.2%) patients developed CHD. Age was an independent risk factor for recurrent stroke, CHD and death. Statin therapy at baseline had a protective effect for recurrent stroke (hazard ratio [HR] =0.454, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.269-0.766, P=0.003) and all-cause mortality (HR= 0.693, 95% CI 0.486-0.968, P=0.043). In addition, female sex, antiplatelet and a higher diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at baseline were also independent predictors for survival.Conclusions: Long term prognosis of ischemic stroke patients in primary care is favorable. Use of statin was associated with a significant decrease in stroke recurrence and mortality. Patients who died had a significant lower DBP at baseline, highlighted the need to consider both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in our daily practice.