Purpose: To examine the incidence of stroke during the first three years after a first-ever myocardial infarction.
Material and methods: Both Kaunas community-based ischemic heart disease register and stroke register were used as the primary source of data. The methods used for data collection were those applied by the WHO for the international MONICA project. During 1986 to 1996, 4201 persons aged 25 to 61 years with a first-ever myocardial infarction were included into Kaunas community-based ischemic heart disease register and followed-up for three years against first-ever stroke or death from any cause. Actuarial life tables were used to analyze risk of stroke.
Results: During the study period, 82 (2.0%) patients with the first-ever stroke that occurred among survivors of myocardial infarction were identified: 68 (82.9%) men and 14 (17.1%) women. The cumulative risk of stroke was 3.19% (95% CI 2.50 to 3.88%) by 3 years: among male myocardial infarction survivors this risk was accounted for 3.37% (95% CI 2.54 to 4.17%) and that among female--for 2.51% (95% CI 1.22 to 3.80%). The risk was identified as the highest one early after ictus among the myocardial infarction survivors: 0.43% (95% CI 0.21-0.65%) by 3 months (men--0.51% (95% CI 0.24 to 0.78%), women--0.12% (95% CI 0 to 0.38%)) and 0.23% (95% CI 0.05 to 0.41%) by 6 months (men--0.25% (95% CI 0.03 to 0.47%), women--0.18% (95% CI 0 to 0.53%)).
Conclusion: The risk of stroke is identified as the highest one early after the myocardial infarction.