title: Stroke in relation to cardiac procedures in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome: a study involving >18 000 patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are few published data on risk factors for stroke in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We investigated prognostic factors for stroke in 2 large cohorts of patients from the Organization to Assess Strategies for Ischemic Syndromes (OASIS) registry (8010) and the OASIS-2 trial (10 141).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 18 151 patients with non-ST-elevation ACS were enrolled in the OASIS program. Data from these 2 studies were pooled (a test for heterogeneity was nonsignificant, P=0.34). Overall, 238 patients (1.3%) had a stroke over a 6-month follow-up. Those who experienced stroke had a 4-fold increase in 6-month mortality (27.0% versus 6.3%, P<0.001). A Cox multivariate regression analysis identified CABG surgery as the most important predictor of stroke (hazard ratio [HR], 4.6), followed by history of stroke (HR, 2.3), diabetes mellitus (HR, 1.7), older age (HR, 1.6 per 10-year increase), higher heart rate (HR, 1.1 per 10-bpm increase), and on-site catheterization facility (HR, 1.4). There was no significant excess in stroke in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (P=0.21). Patients who underwent early CABG surgery were at a substantially increased risk compared with those who had later CABG (3.3% versus 1.6%; HR, 2.1; P=0.003) or who had no surgery (3.3% versus 1.1%; HR, 3.95; P=0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this large cohort of patients with ACS, stroke was an uncommon but serious event associated with high mortality. The performance of early CABG surgery was a powerful independent predictor of stroke.
authors.affiliation: Preventive Cardiology and Therapeutics Program and the Division of Cardiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cronin
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pogue
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Budaj
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yusuf
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D017677:Age Distribution; D000789:Angina, Unstable / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D013997:Time Factors