Background and objective: To determine vascular risk factor (VRF) profiles in transient ischemic attack (TIA) and ischemic stroke.
Patients and method: We studied 239 patients with TIA and 1,473 ischemic stroke patients included in a prospective stroke registry over a 10-year period.
Results: Main VRF were: hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus and atrial fibrillation. In the multivariate analysis, prior ischemic stroke (OR=1.65; 95% CI, 1.07-2.56), atrial fibrillation (OR=1.60; 95% CI, 1.14-2.26) and current use of warfarin treatment (OR=0.34; 95% CI, 0.13-0.94) were the only independent risk factors associated with ischemic stroke.
Conclusions: Different potentially modifiable vascular risk factor profiles were identified in ischemic stroke versus TIA. This suggests that there are pathogenic differences between TIA and ischemic strokes.