Stroke Literature Synopses: Clinical Science

Introduction

Fang MC, Go AS, Chang Y, Borowsky LH, Pomernacki NK, Udaltsova N, et al. Long-term survival after ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. Neurology. 2014;82:1033–1037.

Little is known about long-term survival after stroke in individuals with atrial fibrillation (AF). Fang et al conducted a retrospective study involving 13 559 individuals with AF, aged ≥18 years, in 1996 to 1997 in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California database, followed for a median of 6 years. Subjects with and without a history of ischemic stroke (n=1025 in each group) were matched for demographics (age, sex, race), congestive heart failure, hypertension, age >75 years, diabetes mellitus, stroke (CHADS₂) score, congestive heart failure, hypertension, age, diabetes mellitus, stroke, vascular disease, and sex (CHA₂DS₂-VASc) score, and time of entry into the cohort. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Long-term mortality was compared between stroke and nonstroke patients and by severity of stroke using modified Rankin Scale at discharge.

Among stroke patients with …