Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) have a higher risk of stroke, reveals the latest study that investigated the clinical factors of these patients and the association of medications for treating the disease and allied conditions. A population based cohort study conducted by a team of researchers from Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, found that patients suffering from COPD and allied conditions, particularly the aged with hypertension,  diabetes mellitus and atrial fibrillation, had increased stroke risk. 

The researchers studied a cohort of 24,173 patients diagnosed with COPD and allied conditions between 2000-2013, and revealed that hypertension (HR: 1.46), diabetes mellitus (HR: 1.33) and atrial fibrillation (HR: 1.63) had very high risk of stroke. The study, published in npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine, highlighted that Mucolytics (HR: 0.44) and combination therapy with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and long-acting β2-agonists (LABA) (HR: 0.75) were associated with decreased stroke risk in COPD and allied conditions patients. The team said that they performed cox-proportional hazard regression to determine the impact of medical therapies, comorbidities, and other clinical factors on stroke risk and hoped for further research in the domain.