Stroke etiologies in patients with COVID-19: the SVIN COVID-19 multinational registry

Background and purposeCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with a small but clinically significant risk of stroke, the cause of which is frequently cryptogenic. In a large multinational cohort of consecutive COVID-19 patients with stroke, we evaluated clinical predictors of cryptogenic stroke, short-term functional outcomes and in-hospital mortality among patients according to stroke etiology.MethodsWe explored clinical characteristics and short-term outcomes of consecutively evaluated patients 18years of age or older with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from 31 hospitals in 4 countries (3/1/20-6/16/20).ResultsOf the 14.483 laboratory-confirmed patients with COVID-19, 156 (1.1%) were diagnosed with AIS. Sixty-one (39.4%) were female, 84 (67.2%) white, and 88 (61.5%) were between 60 and 79years of age. The most frequently reported etiology of AIS was cryptogenic (55/129, 42.6%), which was associated with significantly higher white blood cell count, c-reactive protein, and D-dimer levels than non-cryptogenic AIS patients (p

Automated summary

This study evaluated clinical predictors of cryptogenic stroke, short-term functional outcomes, and in-hospital mortality among patients with COVID-19 associated stroke. Among 14,483 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients, 1.1% were diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke, with cryptogenic stroke being the most frequently reported etiology.