High NIHSS scores after stroke onset suggest increased risk of sympathetic cardiac complications

Background: After acute stroke, cardiac complications might frequently result from dysfunction of the central autonomic network (CAN) (1). Cardiac risk may account for poor outcome but is often not readily diagnosed. We assume that CAD severity correlates with severity of acute stroke. Objective: To evaluate whether clinical severity after stroke onset as determined by the NIHSS correlates with CAD severity. Patients and Methods: In 15 patients (5 women, mean age 74.4±9.9 years) with acute middle cerebral artery ischemic stroke (8 left-, 7 right-hemispheric), we assessed NIHSS within the first 50–540 minutes (me…