Association between symptoms reported in a population questionnaire and future ischemic stroke: the ARIC study.

The association between computer diagnosis derived from a symptom questionnaire and onset of first hospitalized ischemic stroke during follow-up for up to 11 years has been assessed for 11,804 participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study who had no baseline history of stroke. Of these participants, 578 reported prior positive transient ischemic attack/stroke symptoms, and 265 strokes occurred during the years 1987-1998. Adjusted for age, locale, sex, and race, persons with self-reported baseline symptoms had 2.8 times the hazard rate for incident ischemic stroke of those without symptoms, with 95% confidence interval 1.9-4.1. Greater relative risk was found among younger individuals, women, African-Americans, persons not current smokers, and those with lower white blood cell count.