Inflammatory bowel disease tied to increased risk of stroke

Explaining the study background, researchers said that based on previous research, it is already known that IBD patients are at greater risk of thromboembolic events. Presently, there is a lack of data on the long-term risk of stroke.

In the present study, researchers explored if IBD patients (biopsy confirmed) have an increased long-term risk of stroke. The primary outcome was an incident overall stroke, while ischaemic and hemorrhagic stroke were measured as the secondary outcomes.

The study results could be summarised as follows:

• A total of 85,006 patients had IBD. The category of patients included was Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and IBD-unclassified.
• Researchers reported 3,720 incident strokes in IBD patients and 15,599 in reference individuals.
• The elevated aHR remained increased even 25 years after diagnosis, corresponding to one additional stroke case per 93 IBD patients until then.
• The excess aHR was mainly driven by ischaemic stroke rather than hemorrhagic stroke.
• Across IBD subtypes, ischaemic stroke risk increased.

Researchers in their study discussed that IBD patients have a higher risk of stroke, especially of ischaemic events, irrespective of the IBD subtype.

Even 25 years after diagnosis, excess risk persisted.

The study highlights the importance of clinical vigilance regarding the long-term excess risk of cerebrovascular events in IBD patients.

Further reading:

https://n.neurology.org/content/early/2023/06/14/WNL.0000000000207480