Associations Between Polyvascular Disease and Stroke Recurrence in Patients With Lacunar Stroke

Background and purpose: This study aimed to examine the association of polyvascular disease and clinical outcomes in patients with lacunar stroke. Methods: Data of patients with recent lacunar stroke were collected from The Third China National Stroke Registry. Polyvascular disease is defined as the existence of atherosclerosis across two or more vascular beds. For the present study, polyvascular disease patients were grouped as follows: coronary heart disease (CHD) and lacunar stroke, peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and lacunar stroke, and CHD/PAD and lacunar stroke. The major clinical outcome was recurrence, and the secondary clinical outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). A Cox proportional multivariable hazards regression model was applied to estimate the association between polyvascular disease and outcomes. Results: Among 3,165 patients with recent lacunar stroke, CHD was present in 375 (11.8%) and peripheral arterial disease in 168 (5.3%). The hazard ratio (HR) for stroke recurrence was 0.98 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65–1.46; p = 0.91) for patients with CHD and lacunar stroke, 1.07 (95% CI, 0.61–1.87; p = 0.82) for patients with PAD and lacunar stroke, and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.66–1.35; p = 0.75) for patients with CHD/PAD and lacunar stroke compared with patients with isolated lacunar stroke. The HR for MACEs was 1.01 (95% CI, 0.69–1.49; p = 0.94) for patients with CHD and lacunar stroke, 1.11 (95% CI, 0.65–1.90; p = 0.71) for patients with PAD and lacunar stroke, and 0.99 (95% CI, 0.70–1.40; p = 0.95) for patients with CHD/PAD and lacunar stroke. Conclusion: Polyvascular disease is not associated with recurrence of stroke and MACEs in patients with recent lacunar stroke at 1 year.