Stroke: The Relationship between Immigration and Acute Stroke

Immigrants from high-income countries are less likely to suffer stroke than long-term local residents;recently published a research paper in the journal Cardiovascular Disease, researchers used relevant clinical and administrative data to conduct retrospective cohort studies of adults who were admitted to emergency departments or hospitalized for ischemic stroke or transient ischemic ischemic episodes from July 1, 2003 to April 1, 2013, who were enrolled in provincial stroke registration centersThe researchers used immigration records to determine immigration status and to compare stroke care between immigrants (defined as post-1985 immigrants) and long-term local residentsIn the ischemic stroke subgroup, the researchers calculated the risk of discharge disability adjusted for reverse probability therapy (IPTW) (revised Rankin scale score of 3 to 5), taking into account demographic characteristics and mergers to compare outcomes for immigrants and long-term local residentsresearchers included 34,987 patients with ischemic stroke or transient cerebral ischemic attacks, of which 2,649 (7.6%) were immigrantsMigrants are younger than long-term local residents (median age 67 vs76 years old) during stroke/transient cerebral ischemia; P 0.001)In the subgroup of ischemic stroke, the proportion of immigrants receiving thrombotic treatment was higher than that of long-term local residents (21.2 per cent vs15.5 per cent; P 0.001)Immigrants with ischemic stroke had a higher risk of disability adjustment at discharge (1.18; 95% confidence interval of 1.13-1.22) at the time of dischargeshows that stroke care in Canada is similar to that of long-term local residentsFuture studies will need to identify the correlation between immigration status and disability after stroke and identify potential correlations