CeAD patients should be reassured that regaining physical activity after CeAD is safe, however moderation on exertion should be discussed on an individual patient basis.
Key Findings
Results
Physical activity changes after cervical artery dissection were not associated with recurrent dissection or cerebral ischemia.
Neither overall change, increase, nor decrease of physical activity was associated with recurrent CeAD or cerebral ischemia (p > 0.2 throughout).
333 patients with physical activity-specific follow-up data were analyzed from a total cohort of 648 CeAD patients.
Median follow-up duration was 6.5 years (IQR 3.1, 10.9 years).
Outcomes assessed were recurrent dissection and cerebral ischemia upon follow-up.
Results
The majority of CeAD patients reported a change in physical activity after their dissection, with most decreasing activity.
197 of 333 patients (59.2%) reported a change in physical activity post-CeAD.
Of those who changed activity, 127 (64.5%) decreased and 70 (35.5%) increased their physical activity.
Data were drawn from two prospective observational CeAD cohorts with in-person follow-up of at least 1 year post-CeAD.
Physical activity changes were recorded using patient-reported assessment of change in activity compared to pre-CeAD.
Results
Regular performance of higher-intensity sports showed a trend toward association with dissection recurrence.
Higher-intensity sports assessed via Baecke score-derived sports index was associated in trend with dissection recurrence (OR 3.43 [95% CI 0.86, 13.64]; p = 0.080).
The association did not reach statistical significance.
The Baecke score-derived sports index was used to address the association between physical activity intensity and outcomes.
Authors recommend that moderation on exertion should be discussed on an individual patient basis.
Results
The overall rates of CeAD recurrence and cerebral ischemia during follow-up were relatively low.
17 of 333 patients (5.1%) suffered CeAD recurrence during follow-up.
22 of 333 patients (6.6%) experienced cerebral ischemia during follow-up.
Median follow-up duration was 6.5 years (IQR 3.1, 10.9 years).
Physical activity-specific follow-up data were available in 333 of 648 total patients (59.7% of those with available data noted in abstract).
Background
Cervical artery dissection is commonly associated with sports-related cervical trauma in young adults.
CeAD is described as a major cause of stroke in young adults.
A timely association with minor-to-moderate unimposing cervical trauma, which is often sports-related, is common in CeAD.
This association motivated the study's focus on whether physical activity puts patients at risk post-CeAD.
The study used pooled data from two prospective observational CeAD cohorts.