Increased risk of ischemic stroke in patients with pneumoconiosis

Although past studies have confirmed that chronic dust exposure is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the relationship between it and cerebrovascular disease is still unclear. We aimed to determine whether pneumoconiosis is related to increased incidence of ischemic stroke in the following 5 to 11 years. We selected 1238 patients with pneumoconiosis from Taiwan's National Health Insurance database as our study cohort. After matching for age, sex and the date of ambulatory care visit, another 4952 patients without pneumoconiosis were selected as the comparison cohort. Each patient was individually followed up until the end of 2010 to track the incidence of stroke, and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to compute the relative hazard ratio of stroke. Our results showed 19.6% of pneumoconiosis patients and 15.8% of non-pneumoconiosis patients developed stroke. After statistically adjusting for age, sex, and medical comorbidities, the hazard of developing stroke was 1.36 times greater for those with pneumoconiosis compared to those without. Even in those with pneumoconiosis excluding chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the hazard of developing stroke was still 1.31 times greater than those without pneumoconiosis. Our study revealed that pneumoconiosis patients are at a higher risk of ischemic stroke, and primary prevention of stroke is particularly important in this group of patients.