Aortic arch Related Cerebral Hazard (ARCH) [ 2001 - 2002 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: Prof Geoffrey Donnan (Principal investigator) ,  Dr Elizabeth Jones ,  Prof Graeme Hankey ,  Prof Stephen Davis

Brief description The outcomes to be assessed are recurrent ischaemic stroke, intracranial haemorrhage, myocardial infarction, parenchymal embolism and vascular death. Should these outcomes be significantly reduced, the public health and economic issues which will be addressed in this study are considerable. Approximately 40,000 new and recurrent cases of stroke occur in Australia each year, and about 80% of these are ischaemic. There is an average prevalence of about 20% of large or complex aortic plaque among patients with ischaemic stroke. About the same proportion of cases of ischaemic stroke yearly are associated with the presence of complex aortic plaque alone, and as many again with simple plaque (40% in total). Using the NHMRC estimated cost of $40,000 per stroke (and assuming that recurrent stroke costs are similar to initial stroke costs) and the estimated recurrent stroke rates of 11.9-100 person-years for plaque > 4 mm, the national cost of recurrent ischaemic stroke attributable to complex aortic plaque alone is about $3 million in the first year. This estimate does not include patients with incident TIA and atherosclerotic plaque or the resources spent on evaluating recurrent stroke and TIA attributable to aortic plaque, the cost of lost wages, or the negative impact on the quality of life of the victims. The economic and public health burden to our society could be greatly reduced by successful efforts at secondary stroke prevention in individuals with aortic plaque and TIA or ischaemic stroke. If just 25% of recurrent ischaemic strokes associated with aortic arch debris could be prevented by treatment interventions, the annual savings to society for recurrent ischaemic stroke alone would be considerable.

Funding Amount $AUD 232,114.63

Funding Scheme NHMRC Project Grants

Notes Epidemiology