Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the study is to determine the risk factors for recurrent ischemic stroke.

Patients and Methods: We compared the risk factors in 186 recurrent ischemic stroke patients (94 males, 92 females; mean age 66.85±11.21 years; range 20-95 years) with 300 first-ever stroke patients (control group) among 1150 ischemic stroke patients who had been treated in Neurology Department of Trakya University Medical Faculty over a period of three years.

Results: The recurrence rate was 16.1%. Within the recurrent patients, 89.7% had hypertension, 32.3% had atrial fibrillation, 24.4% had diabetes mellitus, 15.6% had transient ischemic attack, and 57.5% had several types of heart diseases. The most frequent recurrence etiology was embolic according to TOAST criteria (35.5%). Transient ischemic attack (OR= 2.98; 95% CI 1.54-5.76), hypertension (OR= 1.96; 95% CI 1.11-2.64) and atrial fibrillation (OR= 1.74; 95% CI 1.44-2.66) were found as the independent risk factors. The mean of the modified Rankin scores of the study group at their last charge were significantly higher than that of the control group.

Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the importance of the consistent anticoagulation therapy for patients with atrial fibrillation and close blood pressure control in patients with hypertension.