Understanding and Improving the Relationship Between Cancer and Stroke

Abstract

Cancer is an important risk factor for stroke, but the relationship between cancer and stroke is not well understood. Cancer patients with stroke often do not receive guideline-based treatments due to perceived higher risks, and experience worse outcomes than patients without cancer, including more recurrent strokes. The aim of this thesis is to expand our knowledge of the relationship between cancer and stroke by addressing five major objectives: 1) calculate the pooled one-year incidence of stroke after a new diagnosis of cancer by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis, 2) investigate if the risk for future stroke varies by a history of stroke prior to cancer diagnosis, 3) compare differences in treatment and outcomes between cancer patients with stroke and the general stroke population, 4) identify predictors for recurrent stroke in cancer patients, and 5) evaluate the utility of synthetic data for the purpose of cancer and stroke research.