Intermediate risk of cardiac events and recurrent stroke after stroke admission in young adults

Background In older adults with stroke, there is an increased risk of cardiovascular events in the intermediate period, up to one year after stroke. The risk of cardiovascular events in this period in young adults after stroke has not been studied. We hypothesized that in the intermediate risk period, young adults with ischemic stroke have an increased risk of recurrent stroke and a smaller increase of cardiac events. Methods Using the National Readmissions Database during the year 2013, we identified ischemic stroke admissions among those aged 18-45 years using International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes to identify index vascular events and risk factors. Primary outcomes were readmission for cardiac events and stroke. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used to estimate risk of primary outcomes. Results We identified 12,392 young adults with index stroke. The readmission rate due to recurrent stroke was higher than for cardiac events (2913.3.1 vs. 1132.4 per 100,000 index hospitalizations at 90 days). There was a higher cumulative risk of both cardiac events and recurrent stroke in the presence of baseline diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Conclusion In a large, nationally representative database, the intermediate risk of recurrent stroke after index stroke in young adults was higher than the risk of cardiac events. The presence of vascular risk factors augmented this risk but did not entirely account for it. The aggressive control of hypercholesterolemia and diabetes may play an important role in secondary prevention in young adults with stroke.