Objective To investigate the risk factors for 1-year vascular death in patients with acute ischemic
stroke (AIS).
Methods This retrospective study enrolled consecutive AIS patients admitted to Department of
Neurology of Renqiu Kangjixintu Hospital in Hebei Province from January 2014 to September
2018. Baseline clinical data and laboratory test results were collected. Multivariate Cox regression
analysis was used to analyze the risk factors for 1-year vascular death in AIS patients.
Results 3661 patients were included. There were 160 deaths (4.4%) within 1 year, 136 (3.7%) of
whom were vascular death, and 24 (3.7%) were non-vascular death. Of all vascular deaths, ischemic
cause accounted for 3.1% (n =114), hemorrhagic cause accounted for 0.1% (n =4), cardiogenic cause
accounted for 0.2% (n =8) and other vascular cause accounted for 0.3% (n =10).The non-vascular
death data were processed as censored data, and a total of 3637 patients were included in the final
analysis. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that age over 60 years (OR 1.084, 95%CI 1.062-1.105, P <0.001), carotid stenosis (OR 1.835, 95%CI 1.288-2.614, P =0.001), NIHSS score at
admission (OR 1.200, 95%CI 1.164-1.237, P <0.001), lipoprotein a level (OR 1.001, 95%CI 1.000-
1.001, P <0.001), leukocyte counts (OR 1.093, 95%CI 1.031-1.159, P =0.003), fibrinogen level
(OR 1.092, 95%CI 1.025-1.164, P =0.006), serum creatinine level (OR 1.004, 95%CI 1.001-1.007,
P =0.009) were independent risk factors for vascular death. HDL-C (OR 0.378, 95%CI 0.208-0.686,
P =0.001)was a protective factor for vascular death (P <0.05).
Conclusions Elder age, carotid artery stenosis, NIHSS score at admission, leukocyte counts, the
level of lipoprotein a, fibrinogen and serum creatinine were independent risk factors for 1-year
vascular death in AIS patients, while HDL-C was a protective factor.
