medwireNews: Individuals with systemic sclerosis (SSc) have an elevated risk for ischemic stroke after adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, study findings suggest.
In an analysis of the US Veterans Affairs administrative database, David Ying (University of California, San Francisco, USA) and colleagues demonstrated significantly higher rates of ischemic stroke over an average 5 years of follow-up among 4545 people with SSc compared with 9090 matched controls without the disease, at 15.3 versus 12.2 per 1000 person–years.
These findings translate into a 21% increased risk for ischemic stroke among SSc patients relative to controls after adjustment for factors including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and the use of aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, report the researchers in The Journal of Rheumatology.
This study “contains the largest cohort of SSc patients to date in which macrovascular disease has been assessed,” say Ying and team.
They conclude: “Patients with SSc represent a population likely to benefit from targeted stroke screening or prevention therapies.”
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