Figure 2. Prevalence and Risk Markers of Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformation in Patients Hospitalized With Ischemic Stroke.

(A) 2021 nationwide analysis of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) across a non-selected US population of 4,271,910 patients hospitalized with acute ischemic stroke (2005–2014), observing a significant increase in the prevalence of PAVMs in a combined cohort of patients with and without a concomitant ICD-9-CM diagnosis of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).¹⁹ (B) Clinical variables found to be independently associated with ischemic stroke on multivariable logistic regression analysis included hypoxemia as the strongest independent stroke risk marker (odds ratio [OR] 8.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] 6.3–11.2); iron deficiency anemia (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.5–2.7) and epistaxis (OR 3.7, 95% CI 2.0–6.7), a common cause of iron deficiency anemia in patients with HHT, were the major modifiable risk markers. *Patients with PAVMs were 2.3-fold more likely to be on long-term anticoagulation even after adjusting for age, atrial fibrillation, primary hypercoagulable states, venous thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism.