title: Stroke symptoms and risk for incident coronary heart disease in the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many adults without cerebrovascular disease report a history of stroke symptoms, which is associated with higher risk for stroke. Because stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD) share many risk factors, we examined the association between a history of stroke symptoms and incident CHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data from 8999 black and 12,499 white REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study participants without a prior myocardial infarction, stroke or transitory ischemic attack enrolled in 2003-2007 (total participants=21,498, all ≥45years of age). A history of stroke symptoms (i.e., unilateral weakness, unilateral numbness, full-field vision loss, half-field vision loss, understanding problems and communication problems) was assessed at baseline using the Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke-Free Status. Participants were followed for incident CHD and CHD death through December 2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 3432 (16.0%) participants reported a history of stroke symptoms (1771 [19.7%] blacks and 1661 [13.3%] whites). There were 701 incident CHD events including 209 CHD deaths over a median follow-up of 5.8years. After adjustment for CHD risk factors, hazard ratios (95% confidence interval [95% CI]) for incident CHD associated with reporting any versus no stroke symptoms were 1.26 (1.04-1.51) in the overall population, 1.28 (0.99-1.65) among blacks and 1.23 (0.94-1.61) among whites. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) for CHD death associated with any versus no stroke symptoms were 1.50 (1.10-2.06) overall, 1.58 (1.07-2.32) among blacks and 1.41 (0.82-2.43) among whites.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A history of stroke symptoms is associated with a higher incidence of CHD among black and white adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
authors.forename: Lisandro D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Colantonio
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Gamboa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Dawn O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Kleindorfer
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
authors.forename: April P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Carson
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
authors.forename: Virginia J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muntner
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cushman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States; General Internal Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States. Electronic address: mms9024@med.cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Monika M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Safford
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D063189:Symptom Assessment / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American
keywords: Cerebrovascular disorders; Coronary disease; Epidemiology; Risk factors