Sex similarity of in-hospital stroke fatality in La Rioja (Spain)

Abstract

Stroke fatality depends on several factors. Some of them (hypertension, diabetes, aging or atrial fibrillation) are well known but the influence of others, such as the sex, is still unclear. The aim of this work was to determine if sex has influence on in-hospital fatality after a first-ever stroke. Patients registered in a discharge hospital database due to a first-ever stroke in 2010 were analyzed. Unadjusted and adjusted analyses of the effect of risk factors in the in-hospital stroke fatality, the sex being the main independent variable, were carried out. All gender differences were statistically evaluated.In the discharge hospital database, 570 patients were registered due to a first-ever stroke (49.1% were men and 50.9%, women). Stroke cause the death of 52 patients (13.2% of men and 20.3% of women). Results from the bivariate analysis revealed the following significant differences between men and women: age, fatality, and presence of hypertension, coronary heart disease and peripheral artery disease. However, after adjusting for baseline characteristics fatality was similar in women than in men. Even if stroke fatality in women seems to be higher than in men, when adjusting analyses for other risk factors gender differences disappear.