Researchers to investigate possible link between stroke and Covid-19

The Stroke Association has joined forces with the BHF Data Science Centre to investigate any possible links between Covid-19 and life-threatening strokes.

Announced today, the study will build on the work of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), using health data from nearly all UK adults. Having access to large amounts of data will allow the researchers to follow the health of Covid-19 patients.

Data analysts will compare stroke in patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 with patients without the virus, to confirm if Covid-19 increases risk of stroke and, if it does, by how much. 

The researchers will also analyse stroke risk and characteristics including age, sex, ethnicity and geography to identify which Covid-19 patients may be most at risk of stroke. Stroke risk due to Covid-19 will be compared to increases in stroke risk due to other infections and cardiovascular conditions.

This research forms part of the CVD-COVID-UK flagship project consortium, which is led by the BHF Data Science Centre at HDR UK. This project consortium aims to understand the relationship between Covid-19 and cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke in the UK population. 

Dr William Whiteley, Reader in neurology at the University of Edinburgh and a lead on this research said: “So far studies of Covid-19 and stroke have been small. More data will improve our understanding of the risks of stroke after Covid-19 infection. With the funding of the Stroke Association and access to the data and research community at the BHF Data Science Centre, we will be able to accurately detect even the smallest increase in risk of stroke across different groups of people. We can then better inform patients and health care professionals about Covid-19 and risk of stroke.”