According to research results presented at the European Association for the study of the Liver meeting, liver cirrhosis is associated with a higher risk of stroke and the relationship is unrelated to known cardiovascular risk factors.

The study used information from 1, 290,057 people in northern Germany between 2013 and 2019. 6,517 of them had cirrhosis. Identification of those with liver cirrhosis and cardiovascular event risk factors was done using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) -10 codes.

In comparison to myocardial infarction (MI), the cirrhosis group had a 37% higher risk of stroke. Cirrhosis patients tended to be older, had higher rates of diabetes, and hypertension was more likely to be men (60 vs 45%), and were heavy drinkers (40 % vs 2 %).

Liver cirrhosis is associated with coagulopathy, coronary artery disease, type II diabetes and dyslipidemia, which are all associated with the development of stroke.  The study concluded that the incidence of stroke is higher in those with cirrhosis, but the connection to myocardial infarctions remained unclear, calling for additional research. (MedPage Today June 25, 2022)