Stroke in Adults With Coarctation of the Aorta: A National Population-Based Study

Adults with repaired coarctation of the aorta (CoA) have reduced long-term survival compared with the general population. This study aimed to determine whether CoA is independently associated with premature ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in the contemporary era.

This was a cross-sectional study utilizing the National Inpatient Sample database from 2005 to 2014. We hypothesized that patients with CoA are hospitalized with ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke at a younger age compared with the general population. To test this hypothesis, we compared the age at stroke in patients with and without a diagnosis of CoA using simple and multivariable weighted linear regression. Among 4 894 582 stroke discharges, 207 had a diagnosis of CoA. Patients with CoA had strokes at significantly younger age compared with patients without CoA: 18.9 years younger for all-cause stroke (P<0.001), 15.9 years younger for ischemic stroke (P<0.001), and 28.5 years younger for hemorrhagic stroke (P<0.001), after adjusting for potential confounders. There was no significant difference in the proportion of ischemic strokes between those with and without CoA (79.2% versus 83.0%, P=0.50). However, CoA patients had a higher proportion of subarachnoid hemorrhage (11.8% versus 4.8%, P=0.039) than those without CoA. Among patients who had a hemorrhagic stroke, the prevalence of unruptured intracranial aneurysms was higher in patients with CoA compared with those without CoA (23.3% versus 2.5%, P=0.002).

Patients with CoA have both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes at significantly younger ages compared with the general population.