Treatment and outcomes of working aged adults with stroke : results from a national prospective registry

Background: Given the potential differences in etiology and impact, the treatment and outcome of younger patients (aged 18-64 years) require examination separately to older adults (aged >= 65 years) who experience acute stroke. Methods: Data from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (2010-2015) including demographic and clinical characteristics, provision of evidence-based therapies and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) post-stroke was used. Descriptive statistics and multilevel regression models were used for group comparisons. Results: Compared to older patients (age >= 65 years) among 26,220 registrants, 6,526 (25%) younger patients (age 18-64 years) were more often male (63 vs. 51%; p < 0.001), born in Australia (70 vs. 63%; p < 0.001), more often discharged home from acute care (56 vs. 38%; p < 0.001), and less likely to receive antihypertensive medication (61 vs. 73%; p < 0.001). Younger patients had a 74% greater odds of having lower HRQoL compared to an equivalent aged-matched general population (adjusted OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.56-1.93, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Younger stroke patients exhibited distinct differences from their older counterparts with respect to demographic and clinical characteristics, prescription of antihypertensive medications and residual health status.