A Nomogram to Predict Lifestyle Factors for Recurrence of Large-Vessel Ischemic Stroke

BACKGROUND: Stroke is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in China. Recurrent stroke (RS) could occur in a significant portion of patients with ischemic stroke with devastating consequence. METHODS: To investigate the association between lifestyle and the risk of RS in Chinese patients with acute large-vessel ischemic stroke (ALVIS). A total of 258 patients with ALVIS were recruited in the study (median age 63 years, 30.6% female), and followed for a median of 366 days. The primary outcomes were first RS. Cox Regression and Akaike information criterion were used to establish the best-fit nomograms. RESULTS: During follow-up, 38 of 258 (14.7%) participants had the primary endpoint event. After adjusting for confounding factors in multivariate Cox regression analysis, healthy lifestyles, including bland diet (hazard ratio [HR], 0.365; 95% CI, 0.138–0.965), daily fruit consumption (HR, 0.474; 95% CI, 0.238–0.945), good sleep (HR, 0.364; 95% CI, 0.180–0.739), housework: HR (0.461; 95% CI, 0.200–1.065), and HDL (HR, 0.329; 95% CI, 0.130–0.831) were associated with significantly decreased risk for RS after ALVIS, while smoking was associated with a substantial increase in RS risk (HR, 2.590; 95% CI, 1.340–5.005) and included into the nomogram. A weighted point (from 0 to 100) was given to each risk factor, and the total points could be used to predict the probability of RS for the patient. CONCLUSION: The nomogram shows that healthy lifestyles (bland diet, daily fruit consumption, good sleep, cigarette cessation, and housework) were important for reducing RS in patients with ALVIS.