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(Stroke. 2005;36:310.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Contributions

Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Mortality After Stroke

Retrospective Cohort Study

From the Department of Emergency Medicine (J.A., M.M.) and Clinical Department of Clinical Neurology (W.L.), Medical University of Vienna, Vienna General Hospital, Vienna, Austria.

Correspondence to Dr Marcus Müllner, Universitätsklinik für Notfallmedizin, Allgemeines Krankenhaus, Wien, Währinger Gürtel 18-20/6D, 1090 Wien, Austria. E-mail marcus.muellner{at}meduniwien.ac.at

Background and Purpose— Low socioeconomic status is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from stroke. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between 4 independent measures of socioeconomic status and mortality of patients with acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack.

Methods— Socioeconomic status was assessed by taking into account levels of education, occupation, occupational status, and income. The end point was overall mortality. We used Cox proportional hazard models to adjust for age, sex, and severity of stroke on admission.

Results— A total of 2606 stroke patients were followed up for a median of 2.5 years. Unskilled workers had a hazard ratio of 1.87 for death after stroke (95% CI, 1.37 to 2.55) and skilled workers had a hazard ratio of 1.61 (95% CI, 1.23 to 2.11) compared with white-collar workers. Of 4 income groups, patients with the second lowest level of income had a hazard ratio of 1.60 (95% CI, 1.10 to 2.33) and patients with the third lowest level of income had a hazard ratio of 1.71 (95% CI, 1.25 to 2.32) compared with patients with the highest income. The hazard ratio for death after stroke for early retired patients was 1.75 (95% CI, 1.01 to 3.04) compared with stroke patients in the active workforce at the time of the event.

Conclusions— Socioeconomic status is associated with survival of patients with acute stroke after adjustment for age, sex, and severity of stroke. The influence of socioeconomic status seems to continue to affect the outcome largely independent of stroke severity.

Key Words: ischemic attack, transient • mortality • socioeconomic factors • stroke

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