Long-term survival after ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation
Atrial Fibrillation Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014Neurology March 25, 2014
Objectives: While the short-term impact of atrial fibrillation–related stroke has been well studied, surprisingly little is known about its long-term effect on survival.
Methods: We followed 13,559 patients with atrial fibrillation for a median of 6 years, identifying ischemic strokes through computerized databases and validating 1,025 events. Stroke severity was determined from hospital records. We compared survival of stroke patients with comparator nonstroke patients (matched for age, sex, race, comorbid conditions, and time of entry into the cohort) using proportional hazard models controlling for warfarin use and compared survival by degree of discharge deficit. Read More