Stroke incidence higher among patients with certain type of retinal vascular disease

	Tweet

Patients with a disease known as retinal vein occlusion (RVO) have a significantly higher incidence of stroke when compared with persons who do not have RVO, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

“Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is a retinal vascular disease in which a retinal vein is compressed by an adjacent retinal artery, resulting in blood flow turbulence, thrombus formation, and retinal ischemia,” the authors write as background information in the article. “Although RVO is a significant cause of severe visual impairment in adults, it can occur at any age.” Older age, diabetes, hypertension and vascular disease are among the risk factors for RVO.

Winifred Werther, Ph.D., then of Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, Calif., now of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Mass., and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study to compare the incidence rates of myocardial infarction (MI, heart attack) and cerebrovascular accident (CVA, stroke) in hospitalized patients with and without retinal vein occlusion. The researchers used a U.S. population-based health care claims database to identify patients with RVO and control patients, matched for age and sex.

Among 4,500 patients with RVO and 13,500 control patients, the researchers found that patients with RVO had an almost two-fold higher incidence of stroke than the age- and sex-matched controls.

“Event rates for CVA were 1.16 and 0.52 per 100 person-years for RVO and controls, respectively,” the authors report.

In contrast, event rates for heart attack were similar in the patients with RVO and the control patients.

“Although men and patients younger than 65 years with RVO had a 1.6- and 1.9-fold higher risk of MI, respectively, compared with controls, there were no statistically significant differences in MI rates between patients with RVO and controls when they were stratified by sex or age,” the authors write.

They conclude that “these data suggest that physicians and patients should be aware of the possible increased risk of CVA but not of MI in patients with RVO.”

###

(Arch Ophthalmol, 2011;129[3]:326-331. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://www.jamamedia.org.)

Editor’s Note: Dr. Werther is now with the Department of Global Patient Safety, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Mass. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, financial contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

###

Contact: Winifred Werther, Ph.D.

JAMA and Archives Journals

RELATED STORIES:
Many don’t seek prompt help after ‘mini-stroke’   Smokeless tobacco may increase stroke risk   Apples, Pears May Reduce Stroke Risk   One in Eight Strokes Is Preceded by ‘Warning Stroke’   Moderate-to-Heavy Exercise May Reduce Risk of Stroke for Men   Scientists discover potential stroke treatment that may extend time to prevent brain damage   Memory Problems May Be Sign of Stroke Risk   Less hemorrhaging after stroke, but not fewer deaths   In Stroke, Negative Studies Less Likely to Get Published   New evidence on co-prescribing for heart and stroke patients   Secondary Stroke Prevention Needs Improvement   Taking cholesterol drugs in hospital may improve stroke outcomes

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]