BACKGROUND Stroke is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. We describe trends in the incidence, outcomes, and risk factors for stroke in the US Medicare population from 1988 to 2008. METHODS We analyzed data from a 20% sample of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries with a principal discharge diagnosis of ischemic (n = 918,124) or hemorrhagic stroke (n = 133,218). Stroke risk factors were d...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Despite improved control of blood pressure during the last decades in the United States, a considerable proportion of treated hypertensives have not achieved target blood pressure levels. We estimated the proportion of strokes occurring among treated hypertensive patients that may be attributable to uncontrolled blood pressure. METHODS A population-based case-control st...

To determine the frequency of dyslipidemias in patients with stroke and to compare the lipid levels in ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke patients. Patients with diagnosis of stroke comprising 50 consecutive patients each of ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokes were included in the study while patients on lipid lowering therapy were excluded from study. To determine the subtype of stroke, clinical e...

BACKGROUND Randomized trials of antithrombotics in coronary artery disease have identified previous stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA) as a marker of increased intracranial bleeding risk. We aimed to further characterize the risk of ischemic and bleeding events associated with a history of stroke/TIA in patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS AND RESULTS From the international REdu...

OBJECTIVE To determine optimal intensity of international normalized ratio (INR) of warfarin therapy for the prevention of ischemic events in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), we evaluated the risk of severe recurrent stroke, systemic embolism and major hemorrhagic complications according to INR and age. METHODS We carried out the National Cardiovascular Center (NCVC) NVA...

The aim of the present study was to examine if soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) and von Willebrand factor (VWF) could predict a first-ever ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. This study was an incident case-referent study from within a population-based cohort in northern Sweden. Up to 1996 about 44,000 subjects had been screened and stroke cases were classified according to the WHO MONICA criteria. A f...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We sought to find predictors for hemorrhagic complications in patients with acute ischemic stroke treated with multimodal endovascular therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed patients with acute ischemic stroke treated with multimodal endovascular therapy from May 1999 to March 2006. We reviewed clinical and angiographic data, admission CT Alberta Str...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Combined effects of socioeconomic position and well-established risk factors on stroke incidence have not been formally investigated. METHODS In a pooled cohort study of 68 643 men and women aged 30 to 70 years in Denmark, we examined the combined effect and interaction between socioeconomic position (ie, education), smoking, and hypertension on ischemic and hemorrhagic...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) in gradient echo T2*-weighted brain MRI has a positive correlation with hemorrhagic stroke incidence. However, the prevalence of CMBs in patients with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) has not been evaluated. We evaluated the prevalence of CMBs and the relationship with hemorrhagic stroke incidence in patients with LVADs. METHOD A...