Factors Associated with Unfavorable Functional Outcomes After Intravenous Thrombolysis in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke.

PURPOSE

Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) has become a standard treatment for eligible ischemic stroke patients. However, functional outcomes after receiving IVT varied widely. Hence the primary goal of this study is to identify characteristics related to poor outcomes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study enrolled acute ischemic stroke patients aged 18 or older who received IVT within 4.5 hours after onset between January 2018 and December 2020. The data were retrospectively collected from medical records. The patients were classified as having an excellent (0-2) or poor (3-6) outcomes based on the 90-day modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the results. The predictive model was determined and developed the score using regression coefficients. The prediction power was validated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

RESULTS

The study included 138 eligible participants. Forty-eight patients had unfavorable functional outcomes. With multivariable logistic regression analysis, factors significantly associated with poor outcomes were age (adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 1.03; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.99-1.07; P = 0.05), diabetes (3.96; 1.61-9.37; P = 0.003), admission National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) (1.08; 1.01-1.15; P = 0.02) and initial Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (ASPECTS) (0.56; 0.37-0.86; P = 0.009). The predictive model developed from the findings demonstrated good discrimination power (AuROC 0.803, 95% CI 0.728-0.877).

CONCLUSION

The current study found that older age, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, higher admission NIHSS, and lower ASPECTS on the initial NCCT brain were related to unfavorable functional outcomes following IVT and served as good predictors of patient functional outcomes.