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Clinical trials have historically underrepresented patients with posterior circulation ischemic stroke (PCIS). This study aimed to comprehensively assess the clinical characteristics and outcomes of PCIS patients compared to those with anterior circulation ischemic stroke (ACIS). A retrospective analysis was conducted using data from the Japan Stroke Data Bank, encompassing 20 years across 130 stroke centers. The study focused on patients diagnosed with PCIS or ACIS. Among 37,069 patients reviewed, 7425 had PCIS, whereas 29,644 had ACIS. PCIS patients were younger and had a lower female representation than ACIS patients. Notably, PCIS patients had more favorable outcomes: 71% achieved a modified Rankin Scale of 0–2 or showed no deterioration at discharge (17 days at the median after admission), compared to 60% for ACIS patients (p < 0.001). Factors associated with an unfavorable outcome in the PCIS subgroup were older age, female sex (assigned at birth), history of hypertension, and higher National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores at admission. In both sexes, older age and higher NIHSS scores were negatively associated with favorable outcomes. PCIS patients demonstrated a more favorable prognosis than ACIS patients. Factors like older age, female sex, and higher NIHSS scores at admission were identified as independent predictors of unfavorable outcomes in PCIS patients. Older age and higher NIHSS scores at admission were common independent negative factors for a favorable outcome regardless of sex. • PCIS underrepresented in clinical trials historically. • Analyzed PCIS outcomes in a 20-year nation wide registry. • PCIS had better outcomes than ACIS. • Older age, female sex, and high NIHSS predict poor PCIS outcomes.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical outcomes of unknown onset stroke (UOS) are influenced by the enlargement of the therapeutic time window for reperfusion therapy. This study aimed to investigate and describe the characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with UOS. Patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) who were admitted within 24 h of their last known well time, from January 2017 to December 2020, were included. Data were obtained from a long-lasting nationwide hospital-based multicenter prospective registry: the Japan Stroke Data Bank. The co-primary outcomes were the National Institutes of Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores on admission and unfavorable outcomes at discharge, corresponding to modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores of 3–6. Overall, 26,976 patients with AIS were investigated. Patients with UOS (N = 5783, 78 ± 12 years of age) were older than patients with known onset stroke (KOS) (N = 21,193, 75 ± 13 years of age). Age, female sex, higher premorbid mRS scores, atrial fibrillation, and congestive heart failure were associated with UOS in multivariate analysis. UOS was associated with higher NIHSS scores (median = 8 [interquartile range [IQR]: 3–19] vs. 4 [1–10], adjusted incidence rate ratio = 1.37 [95% CI: 1.35–1.38]) and unfavorable outcomes (52.1 vs. 33.6%, adjusted odds ratio = 1.27 [1.14–1.40]). Intergroup differences in unfavorable outcomes were attenuated among females (1.12 [0.95–1.32] vs. males 1.38 [1.21–1.56], P = 0.040) and in the subgroup that received reperfusion therapy (1.10 [0.92–1.33] vs. those who did not receive therapy 1.23 [1.08–1.39], P = 0.012). UOS was associated with unfavorable outcomes but to a lesser degree among females and patients receiving reperfusion therapy. [Display omitted] • Unknown onset stroke (UOS) accounted for 21.4% of acute ischemic stroke cases. • UOS was independently associated with unfavorable outcomes. • This association was attenuated in females and reperfusion therapy receivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Limited data on stroke exist for Costa Rica. Therefore, we created a stroke registry out of patients with stroke seen in the Acute Stroke Unit of the Hospital Calderon Guardia.Methods: We analyzed 1319 patients enrolled over a 7-year period, which incorporated demographic, clinical, laboratory, and neuroimaging data.Results: The mean age of patients with stroke was 68.0 ± 15.5 years. Seven hundred twenty-five were men and the age range was 13-104 years. The most prevalent risk factors were hypertension (78.8%), dyslipidemia (36.3%), and diabetes (31.9%). Fifteen percent had atrial fibrillation and 24.7% had a previous stroke or transient ischemic attack. Prevalence of hypertension and atrial fibrillation increased with age; however, younger patients were more associated with thrombophilia. We documented 962 (72.9%) ischemic and 270 (20.5%) hemorrhagic strokes. Of the ischemic strokes, 174 (18.1%) were considered secondary to large-artery atherothrombosis, 175 (18.2%) were due to cardiac embolism, 19 (2.0%) were due to lacunar infarcts, and 25 (2.6%) were due to other determined causes. Five hundred sixty-nine (59.1%) remained undetermined. Atherothrombotic strokes were mostly associated with dyslipidemia, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity, whereas lacunar infarcts were associated with hypertension, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and previous stroke or transient ischemic attack. Of our patients, 69.9% scored between 0 and 9 in the initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS).Conclusions: We found differences in sociodemographic features, risk factors, and stroke severity among stroke subtypes. Risk factor prevalence was similar to other registries involving Hispanic populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long-term costs often represent a large proportion of the total costs induced by stroke, but data on long-term poststroke resource use are sparse, especially regarding the trajectory of costs by severity. We used a multinational longitudinal survey to estimate patterns of poststroke resource use by degree of functional disability and to compare resource use between regions.Methods: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is a multinational database of adults 50 years and older, which includes demographic information about respondents, age when stroke first occurred, current activity of daily living (ADL) limitations, and health care resource use in the year before interview. We modeled resource use with a 2-part regression for number of hospital days, home nursing hours, and paid and unpaid home caregiving hours.Results: After accounting for time since stroke, number of strokes and comorbidities, age, gender, and European regions, we found that poststroke resource use was strongly associated with ADL limitations. The duration since the stroke event was significantly associated only with inpatient care, and informal help showed significant regional heterogeneity across all ADL limitation levels.Conclusions: Poststroke physical deficits appear to be a strong driver of long-term resource utilization; treatments that decrease such deficits offer substantial potential for downline cost savings. Analyzing internationally comparable panel data, such as SHARE, provide valuable insight into long-term cost of stroke. More comprehensive international comparisons will require registries with follow-up, particularly for informal and formal home-based care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We assessed whether the iScore could predict the need for poststroke institutional care. Methods: Patients with acute ischemic stroke living in Dijon, France, were recorded between 2006 and 2011, using a population-based stroke registry. The iScore was calculated for each patient. A logistic regression model was used to assess the performance of the iScore for predicting the need for placement in a care institution. The discrimination and calibration of the model were assessed using the c statistic and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test, respectively. Results: Of the 1199 patients recorded, 124 were excluded because of early death and 95 because of missing for variables included in the iScore. Of the remaining 980 patients, 522 (53.3%) returned home and 458 (46.7%) required placement in a care institution. The median iScore was 123 (interquartile range, 97-148), and the proportion of patients who required placement in a care institution increased with each quintile of risk score. The discrimination of the model was good with a c statistic of .75 (95% confidence interval, .72-.78), as was calibration (P = .35). Conclusions: The iScore could be useful for predicting the need for placement in a care institution in ischemic stroke patients. Further studies are required to confirm this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We sought to compare thrombolysis outcomes from the Costa Rican Stroke Registry Program (CRSRP) with published individual patient data from NINDS and CLOTBUST-ER trials using matching and outcome modeling from randomized clinical trials (RCTs).Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study matching subjects on baseline characteristics, from the CRSRP, the control arm of CLOTBUST-ER, and the interventional arm of NINDS trials. Day 7-10/discharge modified Rankin Score (mRS), and early mortality was compared between matched subjects. A mortality model derived from RCTs was developed, and outcomes were compared at similar baseline NIHSS scores. CRSRP symptomatic hemorrhage (SICH) rate was compared with an Ibero-American cohort (IAC).Results: Of 540 CRSRP patients, 351 received rt-PA under 3 hours and were matched with NINDS subjects yielding 292 pairs; 161 CRSRP subjects treated within 4.5 hours were matched with CLOTBUST-ER subjects resulting in 151 pairs. The proportion of patients achieving excellent outcomes (mRS 0-1) did not differ between CRSRP and either NINDS or CLOTBUST-ER (CRSRP vs NINDS: 36.6% vs 32.9%, p=0.3; CRSRP vs CLOTBUST-ER: 26.5% vs 24.5%, p=0.8). Mortality was higher for CRSRP vs CLOTBUST-ER (7.3% vs 0.7%, p=0.006), but not vs NINDS (6.5% vs 4.5%, p=0.4). A pooled mortality model derived from 15 RCTs representing 4410 patients (R2=0.39) showed CRSRP and NINDS within expected mortality, while CLOTBUST-ER showed lower than expected mortality. CRSRP SICH rate equaled IAC (5.7% vs 5.7%; p=0.9).Conclusions: Functional outcomes and SICH of thrombolysed Costa Rican patients compared favorably with published datasets, with a potential increase in early mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data concerning quality of acute stroke care and outcome are scarce in developing countries. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate quality of acute stroke care and stroke outcomes in Thailand. Methods: We performed a multicenter countrywide prospective cohort study. Consecutive patients with an acute ischemic stroke admitted to the participating institutions between June 2008 and November 2010 were included. Baseline characteristics, process measures including thrombolysis use, acute stroke unit admission, initiation of aspirin within 48 hours, and antithrombotic and/or anticoagulation medication at discharge were recorded. Main outcome measures were death and disability at discharge as well as in-hospital complications. Results: A total of 1222 patients were included with a mean (±SD) age of 65.0 ± 13 years, and 55.0% were men. Median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was 6.5. Patients were given aspirin within 48 hours, admitted to acute stroke unit, and given thrombolytic therapy in 71.1%, 24.6%, and 3.8%, respectively. Good recovery at discharge (modified Rankin scale score 0-1) was found in 26.1%, and 3.2% of patients died during hospitalization. The median length of stay was 4 days. Factors predicting poor outcome (modified Rankin scale score 5-6) at discharge included: age (by 10-year increments: adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-1.43), female sex (adjusted OR 1.52; 95% CI, 1.05-2.19), initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (adjusted OR 1.35; 95% CI, 1.27-1.43), and in-hospital complications (adjusted OR 3.16; 95% CI, 1.58-6.35). Conclusions: Limited access to acute ischemic stroke care interventions were observed in many domains especially thrombolysis and stroke unit admission. These findings emphasize an urgent need for strategies to improve standard acute stroke care among developing countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To establish a prospective, real-time, self-sustainable stroke registry system, we incorporated a registry with an electronic chart to create an electronic chart-based stroke registry system in November 2006. The International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision code (430–437) was used to auto-enroll stroke patients admitted to neurology departments. Clinical information was written by doctors, nursing information was recorded by nurses, and basic patient information was entered by administrative departments. Numerical data and the date and time of any studies were auto-downloaded from the hospital computer. In total, 212 items were auto-downloaded, including basic patient information, laboratory blood test and examination results, and the date and time of imaging and special intervention. The stroke scales (121 items, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Barthel index, and modified Rankin scale) were designed to be auto-adjusted to reduce incompatibility. The 95 items with pull-down options were used to specify the contents. This registry system can be time-, labor- and money-saving with secured data accuracy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Objective To estimate the frequency of various risk factors for overall stroke and to identify risk factors for cerebral infarction (CI) versus intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in a large hospital-based stroke registry. Metlmds Data from a total of 3901 patients, consisting of 3525 patients with CI and 376 patients with ICH were pros- pectively coded and entered into a computerized data bank. Results Hypertension and smoking were the most prominent factors affecting overall stroke followed by mild internal carotid artery stenosis (<50%), hypercholesterolemia, transient ischemic attacks (hAs), diabetes mellitus, and cardiac ischemia. Univariate analysis showed that factors in male significantly associated with CI versus ICH were old age, a family history of stroke, and intermittent claudication; whereas in female the factors were oral contraception and migraine. By multivariate analysis, in all patients, the factors significantly associated with CI as opposed to ICH were smoking, hyperch- olesterolemia, migraine, hAs, atrial fibrillation, structural heart disease, and arterial disease. Hypertension was the only significant factor related with ICH versus CI. Conclusions The factors for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke are not exactly the same. Cardiac and arterial disease are the most powerful factors associated with CI rather than ICH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Acute symptomatic seizures are equally common in primary ICH and SAH patients. • Seizure risk is invariably increased in the presence of acute non-neurological infection. • A lower premorbid functional level independently increases the risk of acute symptomatic seizures in SAH. • A lower GCS at admission independently increases the seizure risk in primary ICH. Risk factors for acute symptomatic seizures after stroke demonstrated in retrospective analyses should be confirmed in large population studies. While seizures following ischemic stroke have been studied intensively, less is known about seizure predictors in hemorrhagic stroke. This study sought to identify risk factors of acute symptomatic seizures and to elucidate associated short-term (in-hospital) morbidity and mortality rates in primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). We determined the frequency of all acute symptomatic seizures perceived by clinical staff after hemorrhagic stroke in a large population-based registry in a central European region between 2004 and 2016. Further, we analyzed risk factors for seizure occurrence, morbidity, and mortality in univariate and multivariate analyses. Of 297,120 stroke patients, 19,331 experienced a hemorrhagic stroke. Frequency of acute seizures (without semiological differentiation) in this subpopulation was 4% (4.0% in ICH and 3.6% in SAH). The risk for acute symptomatic seizures was significantly increased in both stroke types in the presence of an acute non-neurological infection (odds ratio: 2.0 for ICH and 4.2 for SAH). A lower premorbid functional level also significantly increased the seizure risk (odds ratio: 2.0 for ICH and 3.1 for SAH). The odds of in-hospital mortality in the presence of acute seizures were significantly reduced in ICH patients (odds ratio: 0.7) but not in SAH patients. Acute symptomatic seizures are equally common in ICH and SAH patients in this registry. Seizure risk is invariably increased in the presence of acute non-neurological infection. Mortality is reduced in ICH patients with seizures, but the exact reason for this relationship is not clear and might represent a biased finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long-term stroke registries in large populations often fail to maintain accuracy. This study presents an inventory survey system for stroke registries and the incidence rate of cerebrovascular diseases in a region with the highest stroke mortality rate in Japan. Methods: Using the data of the stroke registry determined with the inventory survey from 2004 to 2008 in northern Iwate Prefecture, with a population of 235,280 (111,584 men and 123,696 women), the age-specific annual incidence rates, the age-adjusted annual incidence rates, and the ratio of incidence rate relative to mortality rate of the cerebrovascular diseases were investigated. Results: A total of 3415 cases (1714 men and 1701 women) were registered and analyzed in this study. The age-adjusted incidence rates by the 1985 model population of Japan and by the world standard population (range 35-64 years) were 100.4 and 89.4 per 100,000 population in men and 49.8 and 29.7 in women for cerebral infarction; 53.6 and 77.2 in men and 34.2 and 39.5 in women for intracerebral hemorrhage; 12.9 and 23.3 in men and 21.1 and 34.6 in women for subarachnoid hemorrhage; and 166.9 and 189.8 in men and 105.0 and 103.7 in women for all subtypes. The ratios of incidence rate relative to mortality rate were 1.66 for all stroke subtypes, 1.69 for cerebral infarction, 1.76 for intracerebral hemorrhage, and 1.31 for subarachnoid hemorrhage. Conclusions: High incidence rates of cerebrovascular diseases were revealed in the stroke registry with a good inventory survey in northern Iwate Prefecture, Japan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]