Study reveals hospitalised COVID-19 patients have low risk of stroke

While initial reports suggested a significant risk of stroke in patients hospitalised with COVID-19, a new study shows a low risk of stroke in patients hospitalised with the disease.

Notably, the majority of afflicted patients had existing risk factors, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

These findings provide more clarity about the role COVID-19 plays in causing stroke in a diverse population of the US.

The study paper was published in the journal Stroke from Penn Medicine.

To evaluate the risk and incidence of stroke in COVID-19 hospitalised patients, researchers analysed data from 844 COVID-19 patients admitted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Pennsylvania Hospital between March and May.

The team also analysed the data for cases of intracranial haemorrhage (bleeding in the brain).

Researchers found that 2.4 per cent of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 had an ischemic stroke -- the most common type of stroke, typically caused by a blood clot in the brain.

Importantly, the majority of these stroke patients had existing risk factors, such as high blood pressure (95 per cent) and a history of diabetes (60 per cent) and traditional stroke mechanisms, such as heart failure.

Additionally, over one-third had a history of a previous stroke.