Strokes are more severe and deadly among COVID-19 patients than among people without the disease, a new study shows.
The study, published in the journal Stroke, examined 3,556 patients who were being treated for COVID-19 at two hospitals in New York City and Long Island, N.Y., between March 15 and April 19.
Researchers found that 32 of the 3,556 patients also suffered a stroke, which is less than 1 percent of all the hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
But stroke patients with COVID-19 had more severe symptoms than their counterparts without the disease, researchers found. During the study period, 63 percent of the stroke patients with COVID-19 died, compared to 9 percent of those without COVID-19.
Researchers also found that at least 56 percent of the strokes among stroke patients with COVID-19 seemed to result from increased blood-clotting in their bodies.
"Our study suggests that stroke is an uncommon yet important complication of coronavirus given that these strokes are more severe when compared with strokes occurring in patients who tested negative for the virus," said Shadi Yaghi, MD, an assistant professor in the neurology department of Neurology at NYU Langone Health in New York City and the study's lead author.
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