Gender Predicts Differences in Acute Ischemic Cardioembolic Stroke Profile: Emphasis on Woman-Specific Clinical Data and Early Outcome-The Experience of Sagrat Cor Hospital of Barcelona Stroke Registry.

Background and Objectives: Acute ischemic cardioembolic stroke (CS) is a clinical condition with a high risk of death, and can lead to dependence, recurrence, and dementia. Materials and Methods: In this study, we evaluated gender differences and female-specific clinical data and early outcomes in 602 women diagnosed with CS from a total of 4600 consecutive acute stroke patients in a single-center hospital stroke registry over 24 years. A comparative analysis was performed in women and men in terms of demographics, cerebrovascular risk factors, clinical data, and early outcomes. Results: In a multivariate analysis, age, hypertension, valvular heart disease, obesity, and internal capsule location were independent variables associated with CS in women. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was similar, but the group of women had a greater presence of neurological deficits and a higher percentage of severe limitation at hospital discharge. After the multivariate analysis, age, altered consciousness, limb weakness, and neurological, respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal, cardiac and peripheral vascular complications were independent predictors related to early mortality in women. Conclusions: Women with CS showed a differential demographic and clinical profile and worse early outcomes than men. Advanced age, impaired consciousness, and medical complications were predictors of stroke severity in women with CS.

Performance of quantitative measures of multimorbidity: a population-based retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity measures are useful for resource planning, patient selection and prioritization, and factor adjustment in clinical practice, research, and benchmarking. We aimed to compare the explanatory performance of the adjusted morbidity group (GMA) index in predicting relevant healthcare outcomes with that of other quantitative measures of multimorbidity. METHODS: The performance of multimorbidity measures was retrospectively assessed on anonymized records of the entire adult population of Catalonia (North-East Spain). Five quantitative measures of multimorbidity were added to a baseline model based on age, gender, and socioeconomic status: the Charlson index score, the count of chronic diseases according to three different proposals (i.e., the QOF, HCUP, and Karolinska institute), and the multimorbidity index score of the GMA tool. Outcomes included all-cause death, total and non-scheduled hospitalization, primary care and ER visits, medication use, admission to a skilled nursing facility for intermediate care, and high expenditure (time frame 2017). The analysis was performed on 10 subpopulations: all adults (i.e., aged > 17 years), people aged > 64 years, people aged > 64 years and institutionalized in a nursing home for long-term care, and people with specific diagnoses (e.g., ischemic heart disease, cirrhosis, dementia, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The explanatory performance was assessed using the area under the receiving operating curves (AUC-ROC) (main analysis) and three additional statistics (secondary analysis). RESULTS: The adult population included 6,224,316 individuals. The addition of any of the multimorbidity measures to the baseline model increased the explanatory performance for all outcomes and subpopulations. All measurements performed better in the general adult population. The GMA index had higher performance and consistency across subpopulations than the rest of multimorbidity measures. The Charlson index stood out on explaining mortality, whereas measures based on exhaustive definitions of chronic diagnostic (e.g., HCUP and GMA) performed better than those using predefined lists of diagnostics (e.g., QOF or the Karolinska proposal). CONCLUSIONS: The addition of multimorbidity measures to models for explaining healthcare outcomes increase the performance. The GMA index has high performance in explaining relevant healthcare outcomes and may be useful for clinical practice, resource planning, and public health research.

Cardioembolic Stroke: Risk Factors, Clinical Features, and Early Outcome in 956 Consecutive Patients.

BACKGROUND: There is little information about the early clinical features of cardioembolic stroke before complementary examinations. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify risk factors, clinical features, and early outcomes of cardioembolic stroke. METHODS: Retrospective study based on prospectively collected data available from a university medical center hospitalbased stroke registry. Consecutive patients diagnosed with cardioembolic infarction were selected and compared to those diagnosed with an atherothrombotic stroke. Predictors of cardioembolic infarction were assessed by multivariate analysis. RESULTS: From a cohort of 4597 consecutive patients, we studied 956 patients diagnosed with cardioembolic infarction (80 years [standard deviation (SD) 9.14]; 63% women) and 945 with atherothrombotic infarction (77.01 years [SD 9.75]; 49.8% women). The univariate comparative analysis reported that advanced age (≥ 85 years), female gender, atrial fibrillation (AF), ischemic heart disease, and congestive heart failure were significantly more frequent in the cardioembolic group, whereas hypertension, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, heavy smoking, hyperlipidemia, and previous transient ischemic attack were significant in the atherothrombotic group. In the logistic regression model, AF (odds ratio [OR] 15.75, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 12.14-20.42), ischemic heart disease (OR 3.12, 95% CI: 2.16-4.5), female gender (OR 1.56, 95% CI: 1.22-2.00), and sudden-onset (OR 1.97, 95% CI: 1.54-2.51), were independent significant predictors of cardioembolic stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Potential cardioembolic stroke requires a comprehensive evaluation, since early classification and identification through predictors would improve effective management.

[Clinical validation of 2 morbidity groups in the primary care setting]. / Validación clínica de 2 agrupadores de morbilidad en el ámbito de atención primaria.

INTRODUCTION: Adjusted Morbidity Groups (GMAs) and the Clinical Risk Groups (CRGs) are population morbidity based stratification tools which classify patients into mutually exclusive categories. OBJETIVE: To compare the stratification provided by the GMAs, CRGs and that carried out by the evaluators according to the levels of complexity. DESIGN: Random sample stratified by morbidity risk. LOCATION: Catalonia. PARTICIPANTS: Forty paired general practitioners in the primary care, matched pairs. INTERVENTIONS: Each pair of evaluators had to review 25 clinical records. MAIN OUTPUTS: The concordance by evaluators, and between the evaluators and the results obtained by the 2 morbidity tools were evaluated according to the kappa index, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predicted values. RESULTS: The concordance between general practitioners pairs was around the kappa value 0.75 (mean value=0.67), between the GMA and the evaluators was similar (mean value=0.63), and higher than for the CRG (mean value=0.35). The general practitioners gave a score of 7.5 over 10 to both tools, although for the most complex strata, according to the professionals' assignment, the GMA obtained better scores than the CRGs. The professionals preferred the GMAs over the CRGs. These differences increased with the complexity level of the patients according to clinical criteria. Overall, less than 2% of serious classification errors were found by both groupers. CONCLUSION: The evaluators considered that both grouping systems classified the studied population satisfactorily, although the GMAs showed a better performance for more complex strata. In addition, the clinical raters preferred the GMAs in most cases.

Five-Year Incidence of Hospital-Based Emergencies Related to Acute Recreational Intoxication in Minors.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol or other drug (AOD) intoxication in minors is a public health challenge. We characterized underage patients admitted to an emergency department (ED) with acute, recreational AOD intoxication. METHODS: We conducted a 5-year (2012 to 2016) analysis of minors admitted to the only hospital-based pediatric ED in an urban area. Episodes of AOD intoxication were selected using ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes. Sociodemographics, substance use and clinical characteristics, laboratory parameters, and discharge dispositions were collected through the revision of clinical charts. RESULTS: A total of 266 admissions related to recreational AOD intoxication in 258 patients occurred during the study period. Among the 258 patients, 127 (49.2%) were men, median age 16 years [IQR: 15 to 17 years], and 234 (90.7%) of episodes were alcohol-related. At admission, 202/256 (78.9%) patients had a Glasgow Coma Scale ≥ 13 points, the median systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 109 mmHg (IQR: 101 to 118 mmHg) and 67 mmHg (IQR: 60 to 73 mmHg), respectively, and the median blood glucose level was 112 mg/dl (IQR: 99 to 127 mg/dl). Only 72/258 (27.9%) patients underwent urine screening (22/72 (30.5%) were positive for cannabis), and only 30/258 (11.6%) were tested for blood ethanol (median: 185 mg/dl, IQR: 163 to 240 mg/dl). There was a trend in admissions occurring early in the morning of weekend days, and 249 (96.5%) patients were discharged home the day of admission. CONCLUSIONS: Though the severity of AOD intoxication seems to be mild to moderate, assessment of substance exposure is low and may underestimate polydrug use in underage populations.

[Validity of adjusted morbidity groups with respect to clinical risk groups in the field of primary care]. / Validez de los grupos de morbilidad ajustados respecto a los clinical risk groups en el ámbito de la atención primaria.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the performance in terms of goodness of fit and explanatory power of 2morbidity groupers in primary care (PC): adjusted morbidity groups (AMG) and clinical risk groups (CRG). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. LOCATION: PC in the Catalan Institute for the Health (CIH), Catalonia, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: Population allocated in primary care centers of the CIH for the year 2014. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Three indicators of interest are analyzed such as urgent hospitalization, number of visits and spending in pharmacy. A stratified analysis by centers is applied adjusting generalized lineal models from the variables age, sex and morbidity grouping to explain each one of the 3variables of interest. The statistical measures to analyze the performance of the different models applied are the Akaike index, the Bayes index and the pseudo-variability explained by deviance change. RESULTS: The results show that in the area of the primary care the explanatory power of the AMGs is higher to that offered by the CRGs, especially for the case of the visits and the pharmacy. CONCLUSIONS: The performance of GMAs in the area of the CIH PC is higher than that shown by the CRGs.

Malignant middle cerebral artery infarction: a clinical study of 32 patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Malignant middle cerebral artery infarction is a devastating type of ischemic stroke whose clinical predictors remain scarcely known. The present study aims to improve the knowledge about the prognosis factors through an analysis of a malignant middle cerebral artery infarction sample of patients from our stroke registry. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From a total of 1,396 patients with ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery included in the "Sagrat Cor Hospital of Barcelona Stroke Registry", we identified 32 patients with malignant middle cerebral artery infarction (2.3%). Demographic, anamnestic, clinical, and outcome variables in this subgroup of patients were compared with those of the middle cerebral artery. The independent predictive value of each variable on the development of malignant middle cerebral artery infarction was assessed with a logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The mean age was 74.7 (SD, 11.4) years and 50% were males. In-hospital death was observed in eight patients (25%) and early bad prognosis (in-hospital death or severe residual focality at discharge) was present in 16 patients (50%). Decreased consciousness (OR: 4.17; 95% CI: 2.02-8.61), presence of nausea or vomiting (OR: 3.65; 95% CI: 1.40-8.49), and heavy smoking (> 20 cigarettes/day; OR: 2.62; 95% CI: 1.03-6.64) appeared to be independent prognostic factors for malignant middle cerebral artery infarction in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Malignant middle cerebral artery infarction is an infrequent clinical condition associated with poor prognosis and high mortality rate. In our sample, decreased consciousness, nausea or vomiting, and heavy smoking are the main clinical factors associated.

Acute Spontaneous Lobar Cerebral Hemorrhages Present a Different Clinical Profile and a More Severe Early Prognosis than Deep Subcortical Intracerebral Hemorrhages-A Hospital-Based Stroke Registry Study.

Acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the most severe stroke subtype, with a high risk of death, dependence, and dementia. Knowledge about the clinical profile and early outcomes of ICH patients with lobar versus deep subcortical brain topography remains limited. In this study, we investigated the effects of ICH topography on demographics, cerebrovascular risk factors, clinical characteristics, and early outcomes in a sample of 298 consecutive acute ICH patients (165 with lobar and 133 with subcortical hemorrhagic stroke) available in a single-center-based stroke registry over 24 years. The multiple logistic regression analysis shows that variables independently associated with lobar ICH were early seizures (OR 6.81, CI 95% 1.27−5.15), chronic liver disease (OR 4.55, 95% CI 1.03−20.15), hemianopia (OR 2.55, 95% CI 1.26−5.15), headaches (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.90, 95% IC 1.06−3.41), alcohol abuse (>80 gr/day) (OR 0−10, 95% CI 0.02−0,53), hypertension (OR 0,41, 95% CI 0.23−0−70), sensory deficit (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.25−0.75), and limb weakness (OR: 0.47, 95% CI 0.24−0.93). The in-hospital mortality was 26.7% for lobar and 16.5% for subcortical ICH. The study confirmed that the clinical spectrum, prognosis, and early mortality of patients with ICH depend on the site of bleeding, with a more severe early prognosis in lobar intracerebral hemorrhage.

Trends in clinical features and early outcome in patients with acute cardioembolic stroke subtype over a 19-year period.

OBJECTIVES: To assess changing trends in clinical characteristics and early outcome of patients with acute cardioembolic stroke (ACS) over a 19-year period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data of 575 patients with first-ever ACS included in the Sagrat Cor Hospital of Barcelona Stroke Registry were analyzed. Changing trends for 1986-1992, 1993-1998, and 1999-2004 periods were compared. RESULTS: A statistically significant increase (P < 0.001) in the age of patients (74.6 years in 1986-1992 vs. 81.4 years in 1999-2004) and the percentage of patients older than 85 years of age (16% vs. 38.2%) was observed. Patients with hypertension increased from 40.5 to 60.8% (P = 0.001) as were patients with diabetes, chronic bronchitis, and obesity (P = NS). The median length of hospital stay decreased from 18 to 12 days (P = 0.031) and prolonged hospital stay (>12 days) from 18.3 to 13.1 (P = 0.033). In-hospital death rate remained around 20%. CONCLUSIONS: ACS continues to be a severe ischemic stroke subtype with high risk of in-hospital death. The lack of improvement in the early prognosis over a 19-year period may be explained by an increase in the prevalence of major cardiovascular risk factors and progressive aging of the population.

Vertigo in Acute Stroke Is a Predictor of Brain Location but Is Not Related to Early Outcome: The Experience of Sagrat Cor Hospital of Barcelona Stroke Registry.

BACKGROUND: Vertigo is an uncommon symptom among acute stroke victims. Knowledge about the clinical profile, the brain location, and the early outcome in stroke patients with cerebrovascular diseases and vertigo remains limited. OBJECTIVES: In this study, the effects of vertigo on cerebral topography and early prognosis in cerebrovascular diseases were investigated. METHODS: A comparative analysis in terms of demographics, risk factors, clinical characteristics, stroke subtypes, cerebral and vascular topography, and early outcome was performed between patients with presence or absence of vertigo on a sample of 3743 consecutive acute stroke patients available from a 24-year ongoing single-center hospital-based stroke registry. RESULTS: Vertigo was present in 147 patients (3.9%). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that variables independently associated with vertigo were: location in the cerebellum (OR 5.59, CI 95% 3.24-9.64), nausea or vomiting (OR 4.48, CI 95% 2.95-6.82), medulla (OR 2.87, CI 95% 1.31-6.30), pons (OR 2.39, CI 95% 1.26-4.51), basilar artery (OR 2.36, CI 95% 1.33-4.17), ataxia (OR 2.33, CI 95% 1.41-3.85), and headache (OR 2.31, CI 95% 1.53-3.49). CONCLUSION: The study confirmed that the presence of vertigo was not related with increased in-hospital mortality or poor prognosis at hospital discharge. Vertigo is mainly related to non-lacunar vertebrobasilar stroke with topographic localization in the cerebellum and/or brainstem.

Development and validation of a population-based risk stratification model for severe COVID-19 in the general population.

The shortage of recently approved vaccines against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has highlighted the need for evidence-based tools to prioritize healthcare resources for people at higher risk of severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Although age has been identified as the most important risk factor (particularly for mortality), the contribution of underlying comorbidities is often assessed using a pre-defined list of chronic conditions. Furthermore, the count of individual risk factors has limited applicability to population-based "stratify-and-shield" strategies. We aimed to develop and validate a COVID-19 risk stratification system that allows allocating individuals of the general population into four mutually-exclusive risk categories based on multivariate models for severe COVID-19, a composite of hospital admission, transfer to intensive care unit (ICU), and mortality among the general population. The model was developed using clinical, hospital, and epidemiological data from all individuals among the entire population of Catalonia (North-East Spain; 7.5 million people) who experienced a COVID-19 event (i.e., hospitalization, ICU admission, or death due to COVID-19) between March 1 and September 15, 2020, and validated using an independent dataset of 218,329 individuals with COVID-19 confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), who were infected after developing the model. No exclusion criteria were defined. The final model included age, sex, a summary measure of the comorbidity burden, the socioeconomic status, and the presence of specific diagnoses potentially associated with severe COVID-19. The validation showed high discrimination capacity, with an area under the curve of the receiving operating characteristics of 0.85 (95% CI 0.85-0.85) for hospital admissions, 0.86 (0.86-0.97) for ICU transfers, and 0.96 (0.96-0.96) for deaths. Our results provide clinicians and policymakers with an evidence-based tool for prioritizing COVID-19 healthcare resources in other population groups aside from those with higher exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and frontline workers.

Impact on clinical outcomes and health costs of deranged potassium levels in patients with chronic cardiovascular, metabolic, and renal conditions.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Potassium derangements are frequent among patients with chronic cardiovascular conditions. Studies on the associations between potassium derangements and clinical outcomes have yielded mixed findings, and the implications for health care expenditure are unknown. We assessed the population-based associations between hyperkalemia, hypokalemia and clinical outcomes and health care costs, in patients with chronic heart failure, chronic kidney disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease. METHODS: Population-based, longitudinal study including up to 36 269 patients from a health care area with at least one of the above-mentioned conditions. We used administrative, hospital and primary care databases. Participants were followed up between 2015 and 2017, were aged ≥ 55 years and had at least 1 potassium measurement. Four analytic designs were used to evaluate prevalent and incident cases and the use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors. RESULTS: Hyperkalemia was twice as frequent as hypokalemia. On multivariable-adjusted analyses, hyperkalemia was robustly and significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause death (HR from Cox regression models ranging from 1.31-1.68) and with an increased odds of a yearly health care expenditure >85th percentile (OR, 1.21-1.29). Associations were even stronger in hypokalemic patients (HR for all-cause death, 1.92-2.60; OR for health care expenditure> percentile 85th, 1.81-1.85). CONCLUSIONS: Experimental studies are needed to confirm whether the prevention of potassium derangements reduces mortality and health care expenditure in these chronic conditions. Until then, our findings provide observational evidence on the potential importance of maintaining normal potassium levels.

Performance of Three Measures of Comorbidity in Predicting Critical COVID-19: A Retrospective Analysis of 4607 Hospitalized Patients.

BACKGROUND: Comorbidity burden has been identified as a relevant predictor of critical illness in patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, comorbidity burden is often represented by a simple count of few conditions that may not fully capture patients' complexity. PURPOSE: To evaluate the performance of a comprehensive index of the comorbidity burden (Queralt DxS), which includes all chronic conditions present on admission, as an adjustment variable in models for predicting critical illness in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and compare it with two broadly used measures of comorbidity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed data from all COVID-19 hospitalizations reported in eight public hospitals in Catalonia (North-East Spain) between June 15 and December 8 2020. The primary outcome was a composite of critical illness that included the need for invasive mechanical ventilation, transfer to ICU, or in-hospital death. Predictors including age, sex, and comorbidities present on admission measured using three indices: the Charlson index, the Elixhauser index, and the Queralt DxS index for comorbidities on admission. The performance of different fitted models was compared using various indicators, including the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROCC). RESULTS: Our analysis included 4607 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Of them, 1315 experienced critical illness. Comorbidities significantly contributed to predicting the outcome in all summary indices used. AUC (95% CI) for prediction of critical illness was 0.641 (0.624-0.660) for the Charlson index, 0.665 (0.645-0.681) for the Elixhauser index, and 0.787 (0.773-0.801) for the Queralt DxS index. Other metrics of model performance also showed Queralt DxS being consistently superior to the other indices. CONCLUSION: In our analysis, the ability of comorbidity indices to predict critical illness in hospitalized COVID-19 patients increased with their exhaustivity. The comprehensive Queralt DxS index may improve the accuracy of predictive models for resource allocation and clinical decision-making in the hospital setting.

Nineteen-year trends in risk factors, clinical characteristics and prognosis in lacunar infarcts.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular risk factors, clinical features and early outcome of first-ever cerebral lacunar infarcts from 1986 to 2004, using the Sagrat Cor Hospital of Barcelona Stroke Registry, were assessed and compared with data from patients with nonlacunar infarction. METHODS: The study population consisted of 566 patients with lacunar infarct and 1,516 patients with nonlacunar infarct. Secular trends for the periods 1986-1992, 1993-1998 and 1999-2004 were analyzed. RESULTS: Age and the percentage of very old patients (≥85 years old) increased significantly (p < 0.001) throughout the time period. There was a significant decrease in the percentage of patients with hypertension, but the percentage of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease increased. The use of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) also increased significantly. The median length of hospital stay decreased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Significant changes over a 19-year period included an increase in the patients' age, frequency of very old patients (≥85 years old) and use of MRI studies, whereas the frequency of hypertension and length of hospital stay decreased.

Clinical predictors of lacunar syndrome not due to lacunar infarction.

BACKGROUND: Lacunar syndrome not due to lacunar infarct is poorly characterised. This single centre, retrospective study was conducted to describe the clinical characteristics of patients with lacunar syndrome not due to lacunar infarct and to identify clinical predictors of this variant of lacunar stroke. METHODS: A total of 146 patients with lacunar syndrome not due to lacunar infarction were included in the "Sagrat Cor Hospital of Barcelona Stroke Registry" during a period of 19 years (1986-2004). Data from stroke patients are entered in the stroke registry following a standardized protocol with 161 items regarding demographics, risk factors, clinical features, laboratory and neuroimaging data, complications and outcome. The characteristics of these 146 patients with lacunar syndrome not due to lacunar infarct were compared with those of the 733 patients with lacunar infarction. RESULTS: Lacunar syndrome not due to lacunar infarct accounted for 16.6% (146/879) of all cases of lacunar stroke. Subtypes of lacunar syndromes included pure motor stroke in 63 patients, sensorimotor stroke in 51, pure sensory stroke in 14, atypical lacunar syndrome in 9, ataxic hemiparesis in 5 and dysarthria-clumsy hand in 4. Valvular heart disease, atrial fibrillation, sudden onset, limb weakness and sensory symptoms were significantly more frequent among patients with lacunar syndrome not due to lacunar infarct than in those with lacunar infarction, whereas diabetes was less frequent. In the multivariate analysis, atrial fibrillation (OR = 4.62), sensorimotor stroke (OR = 4.05), limb weakness (OR = 2.09), sudden onset (OR = 2.06) and age (OR = 0.96) were independent predictors of lacunar syndrome not due to lacunar infarct. CONCLUSIONS: Although lacunar syndromes are highly suggestive of small deep cerebral infarctions, lacunar syndromes not due to lacunar infarcts are found in 16.6% of cases. The presence of sensorimotor stroke, limb weakness and sudden onset in a patient with atrial fibrillation should alert the clinician to the possibility of a lacunar syndrome not due to a lacunar infarct.

Pretreatment with statins improves early outcome in patients with first-ever ischaemic stroke: a pleiotropic effect of statins or a beneficial effect of hypercholesterolemia?

BACKGROUND: Data from different studies suggest a favourable association between pretreatment with statins or hypercholesterolemia and outcome after ischaemic stroke. We examined whether there were differences in in-hospital mortality according to the presence or absence of statin therapy in a large population of first-ever ischaemic stroke patients and assessed the influence of statins upon early death and spontaneous neurological recovery. METHODS: In 2,082 consecutive patients with first-ever ischaemic stroke collected from a prospective hospital-based stroke registry during a period of 19 years (1986-2004), statin use or hypercholesterolemia before stroke was documented in 381 patients. On the other hand, favourable outcome defined as grades 0-2 in the modified Rankin scale was recorded in 382 patients. RESULTS: Early outcome was better in the presence of statin therapy or hypercholesterolemia (cholesterol levels were not measured) with significant differences between the groups with and without pretreatment with statins in in-hospital mortality (6% vs 13.3%, P = 0.001) and symptom-free (22% vs 17.5%, P = 0.025) and severe functional limitation (6.6% vs 11.5%, P = 0.002) at hospital discharge, as well as lower rates of infectious respiratory complications during hospitalization. In the logistic regression model, statin therapy was the only variable inversely associated with in-hospital death (odds ratio 0.57) and directly associated with favourable outcome (odds ratio 1.32). CONCLUSIONS: Use of statins or hypercholesterolemia before first-ever ischaemic stroke was associated with better early outcome with a reduced mortality during hospitalization and neurological disability at hospital discharge. However, statin therapy may increase the risk of intracerebral haemorrhage, particularly in the setting of thrombolysis.

[In-hospital mortality in middle cerebral artery infarcts: clinical study of 1355 patients]. / Mortalidad hospitalaria en los infartos isquémicos de la arteria cerebral media: estudio de 1,355 pacientes.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To determine clinical predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients with middle cerebral artery infarcts (MCAI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data from 1.355 patients with MCAI were obtained from consecutive strokes included in the "Sagrat Cor Hospital of Barcelona Stroke Registry". Demographic, clinical, neuroimaging and outcome variables in the subgroup of patients who died were compared with those in the surviving subgroup. The independent predictive value of each variable on the development of death was assessed with a logistic regression analysis. Two predictive models were constructed. A first model was based on demographic, risk factors and clinical variables (total 14 variables). A second model was based on demographic, risk factors, clinical and outcome variables (total 20). RESULTS: In-hospital death was observed in 235 patients (17.3%). Early seizures (OR=4.49; CI 95%: 1.77-11.40), 85 years old or more (OR=2.61; CI 95%: 1.88-2.60), atrial fibrillation (OR=2.57; CI 95%: 1.89-3.49), limb weakness (OR=2.55; CI 95%: 1.40-4.66), cardiac heart disease (OR=2.33; CI 95%: 1.43-3.80) and sensory symptoms (OR=2.29; CI 95%: 1.68-3.12) appeared to be independent prognostic factors of in-hospital mortality in the first predictive model. In addition to these variables, cardiac complications (OR=5.50: CI 95%: 3.21-9.40), peripheral vascular complications (OR=3.74; CI 95%: 1.58-8.85), previous cerebral infarct (OR=1.89: CI 95%: 1.27-2.80), infections (OR=1.82; CI 95%; 1.27-2.61), and lacunar infarcts (OR=0.02; CI 95%: 0.01-0.17), appeared to be independent prognostic factors of in-hospital mortality in the second model. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical features easily obtained at the patient's bedside help clinicians to predict in-hospital mortality in patients with MCAI. Early seizures and age 85 years old or more, were the main clinical predictors of in-hospital mortality.

Performance of Comprehensive Risk Adjustment for the Prediction of In-Hospital Events Using Administrative Healthcare Data: The Queralt Indices.

BACKGROUND: Accurate risk adjustment is crucial for healthcare management and benchmarking. PURPOSE: We aimed to compare the performance of classic comorbidity functions (Charlson's and Elixhauser's), of the All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRG), and of the Queralt Indices, a family of novel, comprehensive comorbidity indices for the prediction of key clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted an observational, retrospective cohort study using administrative healthcare data from 156,459 hospital discharges in Catalonia (Spain) during 2018. Study outcomes were in-hospital death, long hospital stay, and intensive care unit (ICU) stay. We evaluated the performance of the following indices: Charlson's and Elixhauser's functions, Queralt's Index for secondary hospital discharge diagnoses (Queralt DxS), the overall Queralt's Index, which includes pre-existing comorbidities, in-hospital complications, and principal discharge diagnosis (Queralt Dx), and the APR-DRG. Discriminative ability was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC), and measures of goodness of fit were also computed. Subgroup analyses were conducted by principal discharge diagnosis, by age, and type of admission. RESULTS: Queralt DxS provided relevant risk adjustment information in a larger number of patients compared to Charlson's and Elixhauser's functions, and outperformed both for the prediction of the 3 study outcomes. Queralt Dx also outperformed Charlson's and Elixhauser's indices, and yielded superior predictive ability and goodness of fit compared to APR-DRG (AUC for in-hospital death 0.95 for Queralt Dx, 0.77-0.93 for all other indices; for ICU stay 0.84 for Queralt Dx, 0.73-0.83 for all other indices). The performance of Queralt DxS was at least as good as that of the APR-DRG in most principal discharge diagnosis subgroups. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that risk adjustment should go beyond pre-existing comorbidities and include principal discharge diagnoses and in-hospital complications. Validation of comprehensive risk adjustment tools such as the Queralt indices in other settings is needed.

Real-World Epidemiology of Potassium Derangements Among Chronic Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Renal Conditions: A Population-Based Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The aims of the present analysis are to estimate the prevalence of five key chronic cardiovascular, metabolic and renal conditions at the population level, the prevalence of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor (RAASI) medication use and the magnitude of potassium (K+) derangements among RAASI users. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used data from more than 375,000 individuals, 55 years of age or older, included in the population-based healthcare database of the Catalan Institute of Health between 2015 and 2017. The conditions of interest were chronic heart failure (CHF), chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease and hypertension. RAASI medications included angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) and renin inhibitors. Hyperkalemia was defined as K+ levels >5.0 mEq/L and hypokalemia as K+ <3.5 mEq/L. The prevalence of chronic cardiovascular, metabolic and renal conditions was high, and particularly that of hypertension (prevalence ranging from 48.2% to 48.9%). The use of at least one RAASI medication was almost ubiquitous in these patients (75.2-77.3%). Among RAASI users, the frequency of K+ derangements, mainly of hyperkalemia, was very noticeable (12% overall), particularly in patients with CKD or CHF, elderly individuals and users of MRAs. Hypokalemia was less frequent (1%). CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of K+ derangements, and particularly hyperkalemia, among RAASI users highlights the real-world relevance of K+ derangements, and the importance of close monitoring and management of K+ levels in routine clinical practice. This is likely to benefit a large number of patients, particularly those at higher risk.

Temporal trend of cardiorespiratory endurance in urban Catalan high school students over a 20 year period.

BACKGROUND: Physical fitness is considered an important indicator of health in adolescents. However, in recent years several studies in the scientific literature have shown a considerable lower trend and an alarming worsening of the current adolescents' physical condition when comparing with previous decades, especially in urban populations. The aim of the current study was to analyse the temporal trend in cardiorespiratory endurance (CRE) in urban Catalan adolescents over a 20-year period (1999-2019). METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis study considering the 20-m Shuttle Run test (SRT) results obtained in the last 20 years was carried out. 1,701 adolescents between 15 and 16 years old (914 boys and 787 girls) were divided into four groups, corresponding to consecutive periods of five years (Group 1: 1999-2004; Group 2: 2005-2009; Group 3: 2010-2014 and Group 4: 2015-2019). ANOVA was used to test the period effect on CRE and post hoc Bonferroni analysis was performed to test pairwise differences between groups (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Results showed a significantly lower performance in CRE in both sexes. The percentual negative difference was 0.67%, 9.6% and 7% for boys and 5.06%, 14.97% and 9.41% for girls, when comparing the performance in 20-m Shuttle Run test for the first period, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the physical fitness of Catalan urban adolescents is lower in both sexes when comparing the different analysed periods of time. Therefore, CRE adolescents should be improved in order to help to protect against cardiovascular disease and other health risks in adulthood.