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Stroke Risks Increase for Heart Patients
Mayo Clinic researchers say they've determined people with heart failure are twice as likely to die from a stroke as the general population.
Researchers studied 630 patients with heart failure from 1979 through 1999. They found that during the 30 days following a heart failure diagnosis, patients were at a 17-fold increased risk of stroke as compared with the general population, and the risk remained elevated during the five years of follow-up.
The occurrence of a stroke among heart failure patients resulted in a large increase in the risk of subsequent death compared with heart failure patients who remained stroke free. Older people with a previous stroke or diabetes were more likely to experience a stroke, the research found.
Nearly 5 million Americans are living with heart failure, and 550,000 new cases are diagnosed annually.
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