CIDRAP-Older adults hospitalized for COVID at increased risk for stroke, data show

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Older adults hospitalized for COVID at increased risk for stroke, data show

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Older adults hospitalized for COVID at increased risk for stroke, data show​

Meghan Holohan

Today at 8:40 a.m.
COVID-19


COVID-19–related hospitalization is associated with an increased risk of both hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, with the greatest danger soon after infection, per a study published last week on the preprint server Research Square.

The study, conducted from March 2020 through May 2022, also suggested that being vaccinated for COVID-19 is associated with a lower likelihood of stroke.

“COVID-19 requiring hospitalization confers an acute, time-limited increase in stroke risk, of a magnitude somewhat lower than that observed after pneumonia,” wrote the authors, from University of Haifa and Carmel Medical Center in Israel. “These findings support targeted cerebrovascular surveillance following hospitalization for respiratory infection.”

The data have not yet been peer-reviewed.

Stroke risk 23% higher after COVID hospital stay ​

Past research has indicated that a COVID-19 infection resulting in a hospital stay increases the risk of stroke. An observational study from 2022, for example, found that people hospitalized for COVID-19 were 17.5 times more likely to experience stroke.

For this preprint study, the scientists followed up with 1.2 million people aged 50 and older who had never had a stroke for roughly two years. They also matched 11,974 people who experienced stroke to 119,740 people in a control group without stroke, all from a large healthcare system in Israel. Of the cohort that experienced stroke, 9.3% recently had a COVID-19 infection.

The scientists found that having a COVID-19 infection that required hospitalization was associated with a 23% increase in total (ischemic and hemorrhagic) stroke and a 22% and 18% higher risk in ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, respectively.

COVID-19 requiring hospitalization confers an acute, time-limited increase in stroke risk, of a magnitude somewhat lower than that observed after pneumonia.

This risk of stroke remained greatest in the three months following infection, at 35%. Those who were vaccinated had a 21% lower likelihood of experiencing a new stroke, which reinforces the findings of previous studies.

“The findings of this study indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection may be associated with an increased risk of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke among middle-age and older adults,” the authors wrote. “However, this elevated risk appeared to be confined to the months immediately following infection and was primarily observed among individuals who were hospitalized with COVID-19.”