All patients with a first-ever stroke that occurred between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2011, were prospectively identified among residents of the city of Dijon, France (151 543 inhabitants), from the Dijon Stroke Registry, a population-based study that was established in 1985.11 This registry complies with the defined criteria for conducting stroke incidence studies, 12,13 and its methodology has been extensively described elsewhere.11 Hence, to attempt to achieve complete case-ascertainment, hot and cold pursuit procedures based on multiple overlapping sources of information were used to identify fatal Background and Purpose-This population-based study aimed to identify unplanned hospitalization within the first year after stroke to determine factors associated with it and consequences on survival. Methods-All first-ever acute strokes occurring in Dijon, France, from 2009 to 2011, were prospectively collected from a population-based registry. Demographics and clinical data, including stroke severity measured by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and disability after stroke, were recorded. For each patient, the first unplanned hospitalization that occurred within 1 year after stroke was retrieved by linking data with the national French Hospital Discharge Database. Predictors of hospitalization and survival at 1 year were identified using logistic regression models. Results-Among the 613 patients recorded, 94 (15.3%) were excluded because of early death. Of the 519 remaining patients, 167 (32.2%) were hospitalized at 1 year. Subsequent hospitalization led to in-hospital death for 16 (9.6%) patients. In multivariable analyses, only a history of hypertension and atrial fibrillation were associated with hospitalization. In stratified analyses, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was associated with a higher risk of hospitalization (odds ratio, 1.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.22; P=0.006), whereas only a trend was noted for disability (odds ratio, 2.26; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-6.22; P=0.113) in patients who returned home after the index stroke. Hospitalization was negatively associated with being alive at 1 year (odds ratio, 0.36; 95% confidence interval, 0.19-0.66; P<0.01). Conclusions-Stroke survivors are at high risk of hospitalization after the episode, and subsequent admission is associated with poor survival, thus highlighting the need for follow-up interventions after discharge to prevent readmission.

Headache at stroke onset is associated with a higher risk of early mortality in patients with ICH.

We aimed to investigate the impact of smoking status on clinical severity in patients with ischemic stroke event (IS). Patients were prospectively identified among residents of the city of Dijon, France (ca. 151,000 inhabitants), using a population-based registry, between 2006 and 2011. Demographic and clinical data were recorded. The initial clinical severity was quantified by the means of the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Multivariable ordinal logistic regression was used to assess the effect of smoking status on severity. Among the 1,056 recorded patients with IS, data about smoking status were available for 973 (92.1%), of whom 658 (67.3%) were non-smokers, 187 (19.2%) were current smokers, and 128 (13.2%) were former smokers. Compared with non-smoking, former smoking was associated with less severe IS (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.38-0.82, p = 0.003), whereas this association was not found for current smokers (OR 0.97; 95% CI 0.69-1.36, p = 0.856). Further work is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms of this finding.

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