Major cardiovascular events in patients presenting with acute stroke: a 5-year follow-up study in patients who had ischaemic stroke and stroke mimics

ObjectivesThe long-term acute stroke outcome has not been well studied in the Middle-Eastern population. The primary objective of our study is to compare the long-term outcome of acute ischaemic stroke (IS) with/without previous cerebrovascular/cardiovascular disease (CVD) to stroke mimics (SM) with CVD.Settings and participantsThe Qatar stroke database was reviewed for IS and SM admissions in Qatari Nationals between 2013 and 2019.OutcomesPatients were prospectively assessed for development of recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction or death. Frequency of major cardiovascular events (MACEs) were compared between patients with or without a previous CVD.ResultsThere were 1114 stroke admissions (633 IS (prior CVD 211/18.9%), 481 SM (prior CVD 159/14.3%)). Patients with IS/CVD were significantly older versus others (IS/CVD: 68.3±12.2; IS/no CVD: 63.3±14.4; SM/CVD: 67.6±13.1; SM/no CVD: 52.4±17.9. p