Stroke: Study Examines Risk of Recurrence

In a large-scale study, research teams from the University of Würzburg and the Ludwigshafen Municipal Hospital have investigated whether risk of stroke recurrences can be reduced by a structured outpatient follow-up care program. The risk of stroke recurrence is substantial: about 70,000 people are suffering from a recurrent stroke in Germany every year, often with serious consequences for those affected. There are a number of established risk factors that increase the risk of recurrent stroke with high blood pressure, smoking and hypercholesterolemia - i.e. elevated blood fat levels - are the most important ones. It is estimated that improved control of these risk factors could prevent about half of the recurrent stroke events. To achieve optimal stroke prevention, however, systematic treatment concepts for long-term outpatient stroke care are lacking in Germany. Structured outpatient aftercare. In cooperation with the Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), the Ludwigshafen Hospital therefore conducted the study "The structured ambulatory post-stroke care program for outpatient aftercare in patients with ischaemic stroke in Germany" (SANO).