Higher mortality and lower functionality after stroke for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

What is it about?

Strokes are common events in the elderly. Strokes are also one of the most common complications seen in patients with lupus, however they occur at a younger age. Vessels carrying blood to the brain can be blocked causing ischemic strokes (about 90% of all strokes) or burst causing hemorrhagic strokes (10%). Using Swedish data, we compared the time to death during the first year after stroke among individuals with and without lupus. We also looked how able patients with lupus were to perform their daily activities three months after an ischemic stroke compared to those without lupus. Starting a month after ischemic stroke onset, the risk for death was increasing at a higher pace in patients with lupus compared to those without. Hemorrhagic stroke was twice as deadly in the lupus group compared to the lupus-free group even from the start. Recovery in terms of daily-activity functionality was worse in the lupus group three months after ischemic stroke.

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Why is it important?

Stroke prognosis is not as favorable for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus as in the rest of patients with a stroke. The risk for mortality is higher and functionality is more impaired in lupus patients. It is important to minimize the burden of comorbidities related to lupus that are likely related with unfavorable outcomes in those patients. We also need to find how we can better identify patients with lupus that are most at risk for developing a hemorrhagic stroke.

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