Scientists from Thomas Jefferson University found that stroke patients with COVID-19 are facing worse outcomes and are often younger and healthier.
People with COVID-19 are more than 2.5 times more likely to have an unfavorable outcome and face a difficult recovery post-stroke.
The research was presented at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery’s 19th Annual Meeting and was conducted by Pascal Jabbour et al.
In the study, researchers reviewed data for 575 patients with acute large vessel occlusion (LVO)—194 who had COVID-19 and 381 who did not.
These patients spanned nearly 50 thrombectomy comprehensive stroke centers across Europe and North America.
The team compared which patients had successful revascularizations—a procedure aimed to restore blood flow into blocked arteries or veins—and left the hospital with little to no disabilities.
Of the individuals with COVID-19, the severity of the virus on stroke onset was moderate in 75.5% of the cases, severe in 15.8%, and critical in 8.7%.
The average duration between symptoms and stroke onset was about nine days, and 34% of the COVID-19 group had a stroke as their first symptom of the disease.
The team also found that the patients with COVID-19 (who were younger and had fewer risk factors) were less likely to achieve successful revascularization.
In addition, the thrombectomy was prolonged in the COVID-19 group, as was the length of hospital stay. Most alarming, death risks were higher by more than twofold in the COVID-19 group compared to the control.
The team says overall, COVID-19 was a predictor of poorer outcomes, even though many of the patients were younger, healthier, and even had mild symptoms of the virus before the onset of stroke.
There is still so much we need to learn about COVID-19, especially its impact on younger patients.
If you care about stroke, please read studies about why sleep loss could increase your heart disease and stroke risk, and these factors could increase stroke risk in COVID-19 patients.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that newer blood thinner drugs plus aspirin could cut stroke risk by nearly 30%, and results showing that stroke risk is 8 times higher in people with COVID-19.
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