Exploring the Chagas Disease-Stroke "Connection": Findings from a Large Multicenter Study

Strokes are traditionally attributed to risk factors like aging, hypertension, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. Chagas disease has emerged as an important risk factor for stroke in Latin American. Our study aims at describing the largest cohort of patients with Chagas disease and ischemic stroke and determining variables associated with stroke recurrence and cardioembolic cause.

This study is the result of a national multicenter cohort study conducted in Brazil. The study spanned from January 2009 to December 2016 and involved a comprehensive retrospective analysis of medical records of patients with both Chagas disease and stroke. This cohort comprised 499 individuals from diverse Brazilian regions, focusing on vascular risk factors and the epidemiological variables associated with Chagas disease and stroke.

Our findings underscore the significant prevalence of traditional vascular risk factors among Chagas disease patients who had stroke. 81% of patients had hypertension, 56% dyslipidemia, and 25% diabetes. We observed a 29.7% recurrence rate, especially within the cardioembolic subgroup. 56% of the patients had embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS). Specific electrocardiography abnormalities were associated with an increased risk of cardioembolic etiology (with three altered results increasing 81 fold the chance of the stroke being of cardioembolic nature). Age emerged as a protective factor (OR: 0.98, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.970-0.997) against cardioembolic etiology. Anticoagulation therapy was associated with reduced risk (OR: 0.221, 95% CI 0.104-0.472), highlighting the importance of accurate etiological classification. Conversely, female gender (OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.039-3.249) emerged as a significant risk factor for stroke recurrence.

This study significantly advances our epidemiological understanding of the intersection between Chagas disease and stroke. It emphasizes the critical need for extensive epidemiological investigations, a deeper comprehension of stroke recurrence determinants, and accurate etiological classification to reduce the ESUS population. Our findings have substantial clinical implications, suggesting the need of control of vascular risk factors and comorbidities and hold promise for improving patient care and reducing the burden of Chagas disease and stroke worldwide.