Background and purpose: Cancer patients are at increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. It is unclear whether cancer confers any additional risk for recurrent stroke or cardiovascular mortality after stroke.
Methods: This was a single center, observational study of 1,105 consecutive Chinese ischemic stroke patients recruited from a large stroke rehabilitation unit based in Hong Kong. We sought to determine whether patients with cancer are at higher risk of recurrent stroke and cardiovascular mortality.
Results: Amongst 1,105 patients, 58 patients (5.2%) had cancer, of whom 74% were in remission. After a mean follow-up of 76 ± 18 months, 241 patients developed a recurrent stroke: 22 in patients with cancer (38%, annual incidence 13.94%/year), substantially more than those without cancer (21%, 4.65%/year) (p<0.01). In a Cox regression model, cancer, age and atrial fibrillation were the 3 independent predictors of recurrent stroke with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.42 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.54-3.80), 1.01 (1.00-1.03) and 1.35 (1.01-1.82) respectively. Likewise, patients with cancer had a higher cardiovascular mortality compared with those without cancer (4.30%/year vs. 2.35%/year, p = 0.08). In Cox regression analysis, cancer (HR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.08-4.02), age (HR: 1.04, 95% CI 1.02-1.06), heart failure (HR: 3.06, 95% CI 1.72-5.47) and significant carotid atherosclerosis (HR: 1.55, 95% CI 1.02-2.36) were independent predictors for cardiovascular mortality.
Conclusions: Stroke patients with a past history of cancer are at increased risk of recurrent stroke and cardiovascular mortality.