Strokes can be the first symptom of COVID-19 in young patients, Western study shows

New findings by researchers at Western University are suggesting some people who have contractedCOVID-19 may also be at risk of a stroke. What's more, the stroke may be the first symptom indicating they're sick.

Dr. Luciano Sposato,who holds the stroke research chair at the school, leda team investigating the relationship between the virus and strokes. The researcherslooked at 160 patient records in Canada, the United States and Iran, publishing their findings in the online edition of Neurology.

They found two out of every 100 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital developed large blood clots that blocked the arteries leading to the brain, causing a stroke. Thirty-five per cent of those people died as a result.

"One of the most eye-opening findings of this study is that for patients under 50 years old, many were totally asymptomatic when they had astrokerelated to COVID-19," said Sposato. "This means that for these patients, thestrokewas their first symptom of the disease."

The researchers found that approximately half the patients under 50had no coronavirus symptoms at the time of the stroke's onset.

Older patients with other chronic conditions were at extreme risk of death, Sposato's team found.

They hope doctors willtake their findings to heart when they encounter a patient suffering a stroke, and will consider the relationship to COVID-19.

"Asstrokeneurologists,we need a new mindset to be able to promptly diagnose and treat patients with COVID-19 relatedstrokes," said Dr. Sebastian Fridman, first author on the study.

The researchers say the interplay between strokes and the virus is getting clearer, and in communities where infection rates are high, doctors should be looking for a link.

"The take-home message here for health care providers is that if you are seeing a patient with astroke, particularly in those under 50 years old with large clots, you need to think of COVID-19as a potential cause even in the absence of respiratory symptoms," said Sposato.