[Ischemic stroke and vascular risk factors in young and older adults. Community-based retrospective study (2011-2020)].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the presence of vascular risk factors (VRF) among young adult and older adult patients with ischemic stroke, with and without follow-up in primary care after hospital discharge.

DESIGN: Observational, retrospective, multicenter study.

SETTING: Primary care health centers and Hospital Verge de la Cinta, Tortosa, Spain.

PARTICIPANTS: Patients with ischemic stroke of two age groups (≤55 and ≥65years) distributed in two groups (GroupA: without follow-up in primary care; and GroupB: with follow-up in primary care), between 2011-2020.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Sociodemographic, clinical, and VRF data coded according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Descriptive, and inferential statistics.

RESULTS: Data from 2054 participants were analyzed. In the young adult group, 94.9% of the participants in groupA had between 1-2VRFs, compared to 60% in groupB. In the older adult group, 84.4% of groupA had between 1-2VRFs, compared to 43,9% of groupB. The most frequent VRFs among younger and older adult patients with ischemic stroke were hypertension and dyslipidemia in both follow-up groups. There were no records of obesity, smoking, or alcohol consumption in groupA. There was a significant association between being followed up in primary care after stroke and being a young adult and presenting between 3-4 VRFs (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The results reinforce the need for continuity of care and follow-up in people with acute stroke in primary care and the need to improve the quality of registries.