Evaluation of Risk Factors Associated with Stroke Recurrence in Patients with Minor Ischemic Stroke

Objective: Recurrent ischemic stroke (RIS) is a major threat to patients with IS. The risk of RIS in patients with minor IS (MIS) is 10-13% in the first 3 months. Despite the advanced examination and treatment of the patients, RIS is still common. It is important to know which risk factors cause RIS in order to take some precautions. The aim of this study is to determine the risky group by determining the demographic, clinical and radiological features associated with RIS in patients with MIS.
Materials and Methods: We included 310 patients diagnosed as having acute IS (AIS) by Bursa Uludag University Faculty of Medicine Department of Neurology between 01.01.2019 and 01.01.2020, retrospectively.
Results: When clinical, radiological and dermogrophic features were analyzed between patients with and without RIS, there were statistically significant differences between groups in terms of the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerotic vascular disease, anterior circulation stroke, craniocervical atherosclerotic stenosis, atherosclerotic stenosis in the anterior circulation, atherosclerotic stenosis of the symptomatic internal carotid artery (ICA), atherosclerotic stenosis in the asymptomatic ICA and performing carotid artery stenting. When significant variables were analyzed by using binary logistic regression in patients with MIS, it was found that the most significant variables were CAD and asymptomatic ICA stenosis.
Conclusion: In our study, the risk factors associated with RIS in patients with MIS were the presence of CAD and asymptomatic ICA stenosis. Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease and therefore craniocervical atherosclerotic stenosis may be multiple. Angiographic evidence has also revealed ethnic and racial differences in patients with AIS. For this reason, more precise information can be obtained with prospective studies to be conducted in our own population.