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Purpose: This study evaluated the association between ischaemic stroke (IS) and heart failure (HF) in the absence of atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter (AFL) using a population-based nation-wide cohort database.Method: Newly diagnosed patients with HF without previous stroke and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were enrolled. Based on the propensity scores matching age, sex and all comorbidities, our studies comprised 12 179 patients with HF and 12 179 patients without HF. Cox proportion hazard regression models and competing-risk regression models were used to evaluate the risk of IS among patients with HF without AF or AFL.Results: In the multivariable analysis, older age (adjusted HR (95% CI)=1.05 (1.04 to 1.05)), male sex (adjusted HR (95% CI)=1.36 (1.24 to 1.50)), diabetes (adjusted HR (95% CI)=2.22 (1.97 to 2.49)) and hypertension (adjusted HR (95% CI)=1.60 (1.41 to 1.82)) were markedly associated with IS in patients with HF. The HF group had a markedly higher risk of IS than did the non-HF group (subdistribution HR (SHR)=1.51, 95% CI: 1.37 to 1.66) and AMI (SHR=3.40, 95% CI: 2.71 to 4.28). Additionally, according to the Kaplan-Meier analysis, patients with HF were at a significantly higher risk of cumulative incidence of IS and AMI than did patients with non-HF (p value of log-rank test <0.001).Conclusion: This study indicated that HF is a strong independent risk factor for IS, even in the absence of AF or AFL. Clinical physicians should investigate IS through routine screening and careful monitoring of patients with HF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Few studies have investigated the relationship between carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Therefore, we conducted a nationwide longitudinal cohort study in Taiwan to determine whether patients with CO poisoning are associated with increased risk of developing DVT and PE. Methods This study investigated the incidence and risk factors for DVT and PE in 8316 patients newly diagnosed with CO poisoning from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database between 2000 and 2011. The comparison cohort contained 33 264 controls without CO poisoning from the general population. Follow-up was initiated on the date of initial diagnosis of CO poisoning and continued until the date of a DVT or PE event, censoring or December 31, 2011. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to analyse the risk of DVT and PE according to sex, age and comorbidities. Results The incidences of DVT and PE were higher in the patients with CO poisoning than in the controls (5.67 vs 1.47/10 000 person-years and 1.97 vs 1.02/ 10 000 person-years, respectively). After adjusting for age, sex and comorbidities, the patients with CO poisoning were associated with a 3.85-fold higher risk of DVT compared with the comparison cohort, and nonsignificantly associated with risk of PE. CO poisoning patients with a coexisting comorbidity or acute respiratory failure were associated with significantly and substantially increased risk of DVT. Conclusion Risk of DVT is significantly higher in patients with CO poisoning than in the general population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]