SARS-CoV-2 and Stroke Characteristics: A Report From the Multinational COVID-19 Stroke Study Group.

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"Lessons Learned" Preventing Recurrent Ischemic Strokes through Secondary Prevention Programs: A Systematic Review.

Recurrent ischemic strokes are a cause of significant healthcare burdens globally. Patients with uncontrolled vascular risk factors are more likely to develop recurrent ischemic strokes. This study aims to compile information gained from current secondary prevention programs. A pre-defined literature search strategy was applied to PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and Google Scholar databases, and studies from 1997 to 2020 were evaluated for quality, study aims, and outcomes. The search produced 1175 articles (1092 after duplicates were removed) and titles were screened; 55 titles were retained for the full-text analysis. Of the remaining studies, 31 were retained for assessment, five demonstrated long-term effectiveness, eight demonstrated short-term effectiveness, and 18 demonstrated no effectiveness. The successful studies utilized a variety of different techniques in the categories of physical fitness, education, and adherence to care plans to reduce the risk of recurrent strokes. The lessons we learned from the current prevention programs included (1) offer tailored care for underserved groups, (2) control blood pressure, (3) provide opportunities for medication dosage titration, (4) establish the care plan prior to discharge, (5) invest in supervised exercise programs, (6) remove barriers to accessing care in low resource settings, and (7) improve the transition of care.

Racial, Economic, and Health Inequality and COVID-19 Infection in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: There is preliminary evidence of racial and social economic disparities in the population infected by and dying from COVID-19. The goal of this study is to report the associations of COVID-19 with respect to race, health, and economic inequality in the United States. METHODS: We performed an ecological study of the associations between infection and mortality rate of COVID-19 and demographic, socioeconomic, and mobility variables from 369 counties (total population, 102,178,117 [median, 73,447; IQR, 30,761-256,098]) from the seven most affected states (Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts). RESULTS: The risk factors for infection and mortality are different. Our analysis shows that counties with more diverse demographics, higher population, education, income levels, and lower disability rates were at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection. However, counties with higher proportion with disability and poverty rates had a higher death rate. African Americans were more vulnerable to COVID-19 than other ethnic groups (1981 African American infected cases versus 658 Whites per million). Data on mobility changes corroborate the impact of social distancing. CONCLUSION: Our study provides evidence of racial, economic, and health inequality in the population infected by and dying from COVID-19. These observations might be due to the workforce of essential services, poverty, and access to care. Counties in more urban areas are probably better equipped at providing care. The lower rate of infection, but a higher death rate in counties with higher poverty and disability could be due to lower levels of mobility, but a higher rate of comorbidities and health care access.

Sex disparity in long-term stroke recurrence and mortality in a rural population in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Several studies suggest women may be disproportionately affected by poorer stroke outcomes than men. This study aims to investigate whether women have a higher risk of all-cause mortality and recurrence after an ischemic stroke than men in a rural population in central Pennsylvania, United States. METHODS: We analyzed consecutive ischemic stroke patients captured in the Geisinger NeuroScience Ischemic Stroke research database from 2004 to 2019. Kaplan-Meier (KM) estimator curves stratified by gender and age were used to plot survival probabilities and Cox Proportional Hazards Ratios were used to analyze outcomes of all-cause mortality and the composite outcome of ischemic stroke recurrence or death. Fine-Gray Competing Risk models were used for the outcome of recurrent ischemic stroke, with death as the competing risk. Two models were generated; Model 1 was adjusted by data-driven associated health factors, and Model 2 was adjusted by traditional vascular risk factors. RESULTS: Among 8900 adult ischemic stroke patients [median age of 71.6 (interquartile range: 61.1-81.2) years and 48% women], women had a higher crude all-cause mortality. The KM curves demonstrated a 63.3% survival in women compared with a 65.7% survival in men (p = 0.003) at 5 years; however, the survival difference was not present after controlling for covariates, including age, atrial fibrillation or flutter, myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, heart failure, chronic lung diseases, rheumatic disease, chronic kidney disease, neoplasm, peripheral vascular disease, past ischemic stroke, past hemorrhagic stroke, and depression. There was no adjusted or unadjusted sex difference in terms of recurrent ischemic stroke or composite outcome. CONCLUSION: Sex was not an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality and ischemic stroke recurrence in the rural population in central Pennsylvania.

Racial, Economic and Health Inequality and COVID-19 Infection in the United States.

BACKGROUND: There is preliminary evidence of racial and social-economic disparities in the population infected by and dying from COVID-19. The goal of this study is to report the associations of COVID-19 with respect to race, health and economic inequality in the United States. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of the associations between infection and mortality rate of COVID-19 and demographic, socioeconomic and mobility variables from 369 counties (total population: 102,178,117 [median: 73,447, IQR: 30,761-256,098]) from the seven most affected states (Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts). FINDINGS: The risk factors for infection and mortality are different. Our analysis shows that counties with more diverse demographics, higher population, education, income levels, and lower disability rates were at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection. However, counties with higher disability and poverty rates had a higher death rate. African Americans were more vulnerable to COVID-19 than other ethnic groups (1,981 African American infected cases versus 658 Whites per million). Data on mobility changes corroborate the impact of social distancing. INTERPRETATION: The observed inequality might be due to the workforce of essential services, poverty, and access to care. Counties in more urban areas are probably better equipped at providing care. The lower rate of infection, but a higher death rate in counties with higher poverty and disability could be due to lower levels of mobility, but a higher rate of comorbidities and health care access.

Regional Association of Disability and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in 369 Counties of the United States.

Background: There have been outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 in long term care facilities and recent reports of disproportionate death rates among the vulnerable population. The goal of this study was to better understand the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the non-institutionalized disabled population in the United States using data from the most affected states as of April 9th, 2020. Methods: This was an ecological study of county-level factors associated with the infection and mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2 in the non-institutionalized disabled population. We analyzed data from 369 counties from the most affected states (Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts) in the United States using data available by April 9th, 2020. The variables include changes in mobility reported by Google, race/ethnicity, median income, education level, health insurance, and disability information from the United States Census Bureau. Bivariate regression analysis adjusted for state and median income was used to analyze the association between death rate and infection rate. Results: The independent sample t-test of two groups (group 1: Death rate≥ 3.4% [median] and group 2: Death rate < 3.4%) indicates that counties with a higher total population, a lower percentage of Black males and females, higher median income, higher education, and lower percentage of disabled population have a lower rate (< 3.4%) of SARS-CoV-2 related mortality (all p-values<4.3E-02). The results of the bivariate regression when controlled for median income and state show counties with a higher White disabled population (est: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.01-0.37; p-value:3.7E-02), and higher population with independent living difficulty (est: 0.15, 95% CI: -0.01-0.30; p-value: 6.0E-02) have a higher rate of SARS-CoV-2 related mortality. Also, the regression analysis indicates that counties with higher White disabled population (est: -0.22, 95% CI: -0.43-(-0.02); p-value: 3.3E-02), higher population with hearing disability (est: -0.26, 95% CI: -0.42-(-0.11); p-value:1.2E-03), and higher population with disability in the 18-34 years age group (est: -0.25, 95% CI: -0.41-(-0.09); p-value:2.4E-03) show a lower rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusion: Our results indicate that while counties with a higher percentage of non-institutionalized disabled population, especially White disabled population, show a lower infection rate, they have a higher rate of SARS-CoV-2 related mortality.

Risk of stroke in hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 infected patients: A multinational study.

BACKGROUND: There is an increased attention to stroke following SARS-CoV-2. The goal of this study was to better depict the short-term risk of stroke and its associated factors among SARS-CoV-2 hospitalized patients. METHODS: This multicentre, multinational observational study includes hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from North and South America (United States, Canada, and Brazil), Europe (Greece, Italy, Finland, and Turkey), Asia (Lebanon, Iran, and India), and Oceania (New Zealand). The outcome was the risk of subsequent stroke. Centres were included by non-probability sampling. The counts and clinical characteristics including laboratory findings and imaging of the patients with and without a subsequent stroke were recorded according to a predefined protocol. Quality, risk of bias, and heterogeneity assessments were conducted according to ROBINS-E and Cochrane Q-test. The risk of subsequent stroke was estimated through meta-analyses with random effect models. Bivariate logistic regression was used to determine the parameters with predictive outcome value. The study was reported according to the STROBE, MOOSE, and EQUATOR guidelines. FINDINGS: We received data from 26,175 hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from 99 tertiary centres in 65 regions of 11 countries until May 1st, 2020. A total of 17,799 patients were included in meta-analyses. Among them, 156(0.9%) patients had a stroke-123(79%) ischaemic stroke, 27(17%) intracerebral/subarachnoid hemorrhage, and 6(4%) cerebral sinus thrombosis. Subsequent stroke risks calculated with meta-analyses, under low to moderate heterogeneity, were 0.5% among all centres in all countries, and 0.7% among countries with higher health expenditures. The need for mechanical ventilation (OR: 1.9, 95% CI:1.1-3.5, p = 0.03) and the presence of ischaemic heart disease (OR: 2.5, 95% CI:1.4-4.7, p = 0.006) were predictive of stroke. INTERPRETATION: The results of this multi-national study on hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection indicated an overall stroke risk of 0.5%(pooled risk: 0.9%). The need for mechanical ventilation and the history of ischaemic heart disease are the independent predictors of stroke among SARS-CoV-2 patients. FUNDING: None.