Etiological Subclassification of Stroke in Older People ≥80 Years Compared to Younger People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Due to the rapid growth of the world´s oldest population, the number of older persons with stroke is expected to rise. Knowledge of stroke etiology is essential to offer personalized and equal health care across age groups. The present systematic review aimed to investigate the prevalence of etiological subtypes of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in older compared to younger people.

Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, Epistemonikos, and Cinahl were systematically searched for studies regarding etiological classification in people ≥80 years compared to those <80 years with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke.

Results: Out of 28 441 identified articles, eight met the inclusion criteria. In total, 8223 individuals were included in meta-analyses, of whom 2997 were 80 years or older. We demonstrated a higher prevalence of cardioembolic stroke in people ≥80 years OR 1.68 (95% CI, 1.12-2.53). Small vessel disease was significantly less common in older people OR .64 (95% CI, .50-.81). Regarding large vessel disease, no statistically significant difference between the two groups was shown OR 1.05 (95% CI, .77-1.43).

Conclusion: In people ≥80 years, cardioembolic stroke is more common, and small vessel disease less common compared to people <80 years. Overall, the results have to be interpreted with caution due to few studies. Large studies using validated classification systems are needed.