Ischemic bowel disease and risk of stroke: A one-year follow-up study

Background: Ischemic bowel disease and stroke have been noted to have shared pathomechanisms. However, data regarding the stroke occurrence following ischemic bowel disease are still lacking. Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the risk of stroke in patients with ischemic bowel disease during a one-year follow-up period in Taiwan. Methods: Data used in this study were retrieved from the 'Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. Five hundred sixty-nine patients hospitalized with ischemic bowel disease were included as the study group, and 3414 subjects, matched by age and gender, were randomly extracted as a comparison group. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to test the relationship of ischemic bowel disease and subsequent stroke during the one-year follow-up period. Results: The incidence rate of stroke among the sampled subjects during the 30-day, 90-day, and 365-day follow-up period was 1·24, 0·76, and 0·43 per 10 person-years. The adjusted hazard ratio for stroke for those patients with ischemic bowel disease within 30-, 90-, and 365-day follow-up periods was found to be 3·71 (95% confidence interval=1·89-7·27), 2·11 (95% confidence interval=1·22-3·66), and 1·70 (95% confidence interval=1·14-2·52) times that of matched comparisons, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratio of ischemic stroke for patients with ischemic bowel disease was found to be 5·29 during the 30-day follow-up period than comparisons. Conclusions: We found ischemic bowel disease to be significantly associated with stroke occurrence.