One Quarter of Stroke Patients Pass Away Within the Year

One in four people who suffer stroke will likely die within one year of the event, and one in 12 are likely to have another stroke soon after the initial attack, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, USA) collected data on 10,399 patients with a primary diagnosis of stroke discharged from the year 2002 onward in the state of South Carolina (USA). The patients were identified from the state hospital discharge database. Estimates of recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), vascular death, all-cause death, and composite events were calculated at 1 month, 6 months, and 1, 2, 3, and 4 years following the initial stroke.

The researchers found that 25% of those who had a stroke died within a year, and 8% had another stroke within a year of their first stroke. After one year, the risk for another stroke or death continued to rise, with about 18% having had another stroke within four years. In that time, about 6% had a heart attack and 41% had died from any cause, including 27% whose deaths were attributed to a stroke or heart attack. The researchers also found that the risks of recurrent stroke were higher among blacks than among whites, and also increased with age and comorbidities. The study was published in the February 16, 2010, issue of Neurology.

"Stroke is a devastating disease; once you have it, you are at a high risk to have another one, as well as heart attack or death,” said lead author Wuwei Feng, M.D., of the department of neurosciences. "Our findings suggest that South Carolina and possibly other parts of the United States may have a long way to go in terms of preventing and reducing the risk factors for recurrent strokes.”

The "stroke belt” is a name given to a region in the southeastern United States that has been recognized by U.S. public health authorities as having an unusually high incidence of stroke and other forms of cardiovascular disease. It is typically defined as an 11-state region consisting of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Although numerous possible contributing factors have been identified, including hypertension, diet, low socioeconomic status, quality of healthcare facilities, smoking, and infections, the reasons for the phenomenon have not yet been determined.

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