White Blood Cell Count Improves Prediction of Delayed Cerebral Ischemia Following Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND

Immune dysregulation has long been implicated in the development of delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH).

OBJECTIVE

To determine the relationship of inflammatory cell biomarkers with DCI.

METHODS

We evaluated 849 aSAH patients who were enrolled into a prospective observational cohort study and had a white blood cell (WBC) differential obtained within 72 h of bleed onset.

RESULTS

WBC count > 12.1 × 109/L (odds ratio 4.6; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.9-11, P < 0.001) was the strongest Complete Blood Count (CBC) predictor of DCI after controlling for clinical grade (P < .001), thickness of SAH blood on admission computed tomography (P = .002), and clipping aneurysm repair (P < .001). A significant interaction between clinical grade and WBC count (odds ratio 0.8, 95% CI: 0.6-1.0, P = .02) revealed that good-grade patients with elevated WBC counts (49%: 273/558) had increased odds for DCI indistinguishable from poor-grade patients. Multivariable Cox regression also showed that elevated WBC counts in good-grade patients increased the hazard for DCI to that of poor-grade patients (hazard ratio 2.1, 95% CI 1.3-3.2, P < .001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of good-grade patients revealed that WBC count (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.63) is a stronger DCI predictor than the modified Fisher score (AUC: 0.57) and significantly improves multivariable DCI prediction models (Z = 2.0, P = .02, AUC: 0.73; PPV: 34%; NPV: 92%).

CONCLUSION

Good-grade patients with early elevations in WBC count have a similar risk and hazard for DCI as poor-grade patients. Good-grade patients without elevated WBC may be candidates to be safely downgraded from the intensive care unit, leading to cost savings for both patient families and hospitals.