23 Nov Women Have Persistent Cardiovascular Risk After MI or Stroke

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Bob Siegerink PhD
Frits R. Rosendaal MD, PhD
Department of Clinical Epidemiology
Leiden University Medical Center
Leiden, the Netherlands

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The rates of death due to arterial thrombosis have been declining in the past years, which means that there are more patients with a high burden of disease. Arterial thrombosis is a uncommon disease in the young, but the burden of the disease might have a profound impact on their lives. We analyzed data form the RATIO study, in which we followed women with a ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction for up to 20 years. During this time, overall mortality was 2-4 times higher compared to the general population. This increase in risk was mainly driven by deaths from acute vascular events and persisted over the whole course of the follow up.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Response: The results clearly show that women with both myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke have an increased persistent cardiovascular burden. Interestingly, it seems that this increase in risk is what we call “true to type” which means that the risk of cerebrovascular events is highest in IS patients, whereas the risk of cardiac events is highest in MI patients.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: This study, together with other results from the RATIO study suggest that Myocardial Infarction and IS have different etiological mechanisms, at least in young women. But perhaps this is also true for the different subtypes of these diseases. We should focus our efforts to understand the different etiological mechanisms within one type of disease, as this might lead to new insights and possibly new tailored treatments.

Citation:

Maino A, Siegerink B, Algra A, Peyvandi F, Rosendaal FR. Recurrence and Mortality in Young Women With Myocardial Infarction or Ischemic Stroke: Long-term Follow-up of the Risk of Arterial Thrombosis in Relation to Oral Contraceptives (RATIO) Study . JAMA Intern Med. Published online November 23, 2015. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.6523.

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Bob Siegerink PhD, & Frits R. Rosendaal MD, PhD (2015). Women Have Persistent Cardiovascular Risk After MI or Stroke

Last Updated on November 23, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD