Benign neoplasm of the heart increases the risk of first ischemic stroke: a population-based cohort study

The study aims to investigate the incidence of first ischemic stroke in patients with benign cardiac tumors who did or did not undergo operations.

We used the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan to conduct the research. The exposure cohort comprised 587 adult patients with benign cardiac tumors. Each patient was randomly frequency matched by age, index month, and index year with 10 participants from the general population who exhibited no history of benign cardiac tumors before the index date (control group). Cox's proportion hazard regression analyses were conducted to determine the relation between benign cardiac tumors and the risk of ischemic stroke.

Based on clinical diagnoses, the prevalence of benign cardiac tumors was 0.004%. Patients with benign cardiac tumors exhibited an increased risk of first ischemic stroke [adjusted hazard ratio: 1.77; (95% confidence interval, 1.20-2.63)], particularly at young ages (adjusted hazard ratio: 22.9, 95% confidence interval: 4.17-126.0). We observed no significant difference in the risk of ischemic stroke between men with and without benign cardiac tumors (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.29, 95% confidence interval: 0.63-2.63). Among patients with benign cardiac tumors, the adjusted hazard ratio of first ischemic stroke was 0.48 (95% confidence interval: 0.23-1.04) in the operation group compared with the nonoperation group.

Younger patients (<50 years) with benign cardiac tumors exhibit an increased risk of first ischemic stroke.