Evaluation of likelihood and frequency of “silent” strokes in hypertensive patients with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus

The study presents data on clinical evaluation of the likelihood and frequency of “silent” strokes in ambulatory hypertensive patients with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The results of the study showed that “silent” strokes occurred 8 times more often in hypertensive patients with T2DM compared with patients without T2DM. Results of the clinical evaluation of the likelihood and frequency of “silent” strokes showed that 10%, 40%, and 50% of T2DM-free hypertensive patients had high, moderate, and low chances of past “silent” strokes, respectively, whereas 60%, 30%, and 10% of hypertensive patients with T2DM had high, moderate, and low probabilities of past silent strokes, respectively. Our data suggested that the presence of T2DM contributed to more frequent development of “silent” strokes. Evaluation of clinical probability of the ambulatory “silent” strokes by the proposed method will contribute to timely referral of ambulatory patients with moderate or high stroke likelihood to the most appropriate diagnostic, medical, and preventive services.