title: Five-year survival after first-ever stroke and related prognostic factors in the Perth Community Stroke Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Few community-based studies have examined the long-term survival and prognostic factors for death within 5 years after an acute first-ever stroke. This study aimed to determine the absolute and relative survival and the independent baseline prognostic factors for death over the next 5 years among all individuals and among 30-day survivors after a first-ever stroke in a population of Perth, Western Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between February 1989 and August 1990, all individuals with a suspected acute stroke or transient ischemic attack of the brain who were resident in a geographically defined region of Perth, Western Australia, with a population of 138 708 people, were registered prospectively and assessed according to standardized diagnostic criteria. Patients were followed up prospectively at 4 months, 12 months, and 5 years after the index event.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred seventy patients with first-ever stroke were registered, and 362 (98%) were followed up at 5 years, by which time 210 (58%) had died. In the first year after stroke the risk of death was 36.5% (95% CI, 31.5% to 41.4%), which was 10-fold (95% CI, 8.3% to 11.7%) higher than that expected among the general population of the same age and sex. The most common cause of death was the index stroke (64%). Between 1 and 5 years after stroke, the annual risk of death was approximately 10% per year, which was approximately 2-fold greater than expected, and the most common cause of death was cardiovascular disease (41%). The independent baseline factors among 30-day survivors that predicted death over 5 years were intermittent claudication (hazard ratio [HR], 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.9), urinary incontinence (HR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1. 3 to 3.0), previous transient ischemic attack (HR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.4 to 4.1), and prestroke Barthel Index <20/20 (HR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.2 to 3.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One-year survivors of first-ever stroke continue to die over the next 4 years at a rate of approximately 10% per year, which is twice the rate expected among the general population of the same age and sex. The most common cause of death is cardiovascular disease. Long-term survival after stroke may be improved by early, active, and sustained implementation of effective strategies for preventing subsequent cardiovascular events.
authors.affiliation: Stroke Unit, Department of Neurology, Royal Perth Hospital (Western Australia). gjhankey@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hankey
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jamrozik
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Broadhurst
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Forbes
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Burvill
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: E G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Stewart-Wynne
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D002423:Cause of Death; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis