title: Ischemic Stroke in the Elderly: Septuagenarians Versus Octogenarians.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stroke prevalence is known to increase with age. Approximately 50% of acute ischemic stroke patients are aged between 70 and 89 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, records of 770 ischemic stroke patients who were 70-89 years old were retrospectively examined (407 septuagenarians and 363 octogenarians). The demographics, comorbid conditions, ischemic stroke type, and stroke outcome for the two age groups were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comorbid hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and HbA1c levels of ≥6.5% more frequently occurred in septuagenarians than in octogenarians (80.6% versus 70.8%, p=0.002; 32.2% versus 21.8%, p=0.001; and 35% versus 23.2%, p=0.003, respectively), whereas atrial fibrillation was significantly higher in octogenarians (49.3% versus 41.5%, p=0.03). Hypercholesterolemia, previous stroke history, and antiaggregant and/or anticoagulant use were not significantly different between the two age groups. Based on the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project classification, the most common stroke subtype in the septuagenarian group was a lacunar infarction and in the octogenarian group, it was a partial anterior circulation infarct. According to the Modified Ranking Score, the number of patients living independently was higher for septuagenarians (42.8% versus 27.8%, p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings indicate that the clinical characteristics of ischemic stroke differed between septuagenarians and octogenarians. Therefore, elderly stroke patients cannot be accepted as a homogeneous group. Because this is a hospital-based study, our findings need to be tested via additional epidemiological studies.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Birgül
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baştan
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sefer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Günaydin
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatma Belgin
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Balci
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hürtan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Acar
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Aytül
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mutlu
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Feriha
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Özer
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Özlem
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Çokar
keywords: Elderly; brain ischemia; stroke