Associations of Social, Behavioral, and Clinical Factors With Sex Differences in Stroke Recurrence and Poststroke Mortality | Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes
BACKGROUND: Few population-based studies have assessed sex differences in stroke recurrence. In addition, contributors to sex differences in recurrence and poststroke mortality, including social factors, are unclear. We investigated sex differences in these outcomes and the contribution of social, clinical, and behavioral factors to the sex differences. METHODS: First-ever ischemic stroke cases identified from 2008 to 2019 from the population-based Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi Project in Texas were included and followed for recurrence and all-cause mortality through 2020. Sex differences in outcomes with and without adjustment for potential confounding factors, including social, behavioral, and clinical factors, were examined using Cox proportional hazard models. Factors that changed the log hazard ratio (HR) for sex by at least 10% after adjustment were identified as confounders/contributors. Final models were adjusted for all identified confounders. RESULTS: Of 2326 pa