Long-Term Survival After Stroke According to Reperfusion Therapy, Cardiovascular Therapy and Gender.

BACKGROUND: A wide variety of factors influence stroke prognosis, including age, stroke severity and comorbid conditions; but most current information about outcomes and safety is derived from patients at 3 - 12 months and mostly coming from the hospital activity. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether treatment strategies have a differential impact on long-survival after acute ischemic stroke among men versus women. METHODS: Acute ischemic stroke patients identified from the population-based register between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012 were included, and they were classified into: 1) Acute ischemic stroke + intravenous thrombolysis (group I); 2) Acute ischemic stroke + mechanical thrombectomy with or without intravenous thrombolysis (group II); 3) Acute ischemic stroke + medical therapy alone (no reperfusion therapies) (group III). Follow-up went through up until December 2016. The probability of survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the hazard ratio was obtained by using the Cox proportional hazard regression models. Mortality was interpreted as overall mortality. RESULTS: A total of 14,368 cases (men 50.1%), 77.1 ± 11.0 years old were included. There was higher survival among those treated with intravenous thrombolysis (P < 0.001); women treated with thrombectomy (P < 0.001); and women < 80 years old without reperfusion therapy. The most common medications were antiplatelets (52.8%), associated with lower survival (P < 0.001); and statins (46.5%), associated with higher survival. The regression model produced the following independent outcome variables associated to mortality: anticoagulant hazard ratio (HR) 1.53 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.44 - 1.63, P < 0.001), diuretics HR 1.71 (95% CI: 1.63 - 1.79, P < 0.001), antiplatelet HR 1.49 (95% CI: 1.42 - 1.56, P < 0.001), statins HR 0.73 (95% CI: 0.70 - 0.77; P < 0.001), angiotensin II receptor antagonists HR 0.93 (95% CI: 0.89 - 0.98, P = 0.008) and reperfusion therapy HR 0.88 (95% CI: 0.81 - 0.97, P = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: Men and women have different prognoses after revascularization treatment for acute ischemic stroke. Under 80 years old the women appear to have a better outcome than men when treated with thrombolysis therapy and/or catheter-based thrombectomy. The chronic cardiovascular pharmacotherapy must be evaluated whether they should be included as factors in the decision to reperfusion.

Incidencia y evitabilidad de los ictus hemorrágicos. Resultados del registro Ebrictus / Incidence and preventability of haemorrhagic strokes. Results of the Ebrictus register

Objetivo. Conocer la incidencia poblacional de la hemorragia intracerebral y su incidencia evitable, factores de riesgo asociados y pronóstico de muerte y discapacidad. Sujetos y métodos. Muestra de 240 pacientes consecutivos con un primer episodio de hemorragia intracerebral entre el 1 de abril de 2006 y el 30 de junio de 2015. Las variables principales son: escala NIHSS, comorbilidad, información farmacológica, índice de Barthel, escala de Rankin, tiempo en rango terapéutico, pronóstico y destino al alta hospitalaria. Se aplicó la clasificación ‘mortalidad innecesariamente prematura y sanitariamente evitable’ (MIPSE) para definir los casos como ’incidencia evitable’. Resultados. La tasa de incidencia poblacional de enfermedad cerebrovascular hemorrágica fue de 23,5 casos por 100.000 habitantes/año; se produjo un incremento exponencial a partir de los 55 años en hombres y 75 años en mujeres. La razón de tasas fue de 0,682. La incidencia evitable significaría el 66,6% de todos los casos en los menores de 75 años y el 22,7% en aquellos con 75 o más años. La probabilidad de supervivencia y la autonomía funcional fueron significativamente inferiores en las mujeres, y la edad, el tratamiento anticoagulante, la presencia de polimedicación y el tratamiento con antidepresivos inhibidores de la recaptación de serotonina fueron factores independientes del pronóstico. Conclusiones. No parece que se modifique la incidencia de enfermedad cerebrovascular hemorrágica en el período, pero sí los factores asociados según sexo y edad. Según la clasificación MIPSE, la evitabilidad de la enfermedad cerebrovascular hemorrágica sería de hasta un 36% (AU)

Aim. To determine the population incidence of intracerebral haemorrhage and its preventable incidence, associated risk factors and prognosis of death and disability. Subjects and methods. We examined a sample of 240 consecutive patients with a first episode of intracerebral haemorrhage between 1st April 2006 and 30th June 2015. The main variables are: NIHSS scale, comorbidity, pharmacological information, Barthel index, Rankin scale, time within therapeutic window, prognosis and destination on hospital discharge. The ‘unnecessarily premature and sanitarily avoidable mortality’ (MIPSE) classification was applied to define the cases as ‘preventable incidence’. Results. The rate of population incidence of haemorrhagic cerebrovascular disease was 23.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants/year; an exponential increase occurred from the age of 55 years in males and 75 years in females. The rate ratio was 0.682. The preventable incidence would account for 66.6% of all the cases in those under 75 years of age and 22.7% in those aged 75 or over. The chances of survival and functional autonomy were significantly lower in females, and age, anticoagulant treatment, the presence of polymedication and treatment with serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants were factors that were independent of the prognosis. Conclusions. The incidence of haemorrhagic cerebrovascular disease does not appear to be modified within the period, but just the opposite occurs with the factors associated according to sex and age. According to the MIPSE classification, the preventability of haemorrhagic cerebrovascular disease could be as high as 36% (AU)

Results from the Registry of Atrial Fibrillation (AFABE): Gap between Undiagnosed and Registered Atrial Fibrillation in Adults--Ineffectiveness of Oral Anticoagulation Treatment with VKA.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the use of oral anticoagulation (OAC) medication, recommended by national guidelines for stroke prevention but reportedly underused in AF patients with moderate to high stroke risk. METHOD: A multicentre and cross-sectional study of undiagnosed AF among out-of-hospital patients over 60 years old was carried out, visiting 3,638 patients at primary health centres or at home for AF diagnosis using the IDC-10 classification. The main outcome measures were CHA2DS2VASC, HAS-BLED scores, cardiovascular comorbidity, pharmacological information, TTR, and SAMe-TT2R2 scores. RESULTS: The main findings were undiagnosed AF in 26.44% of cases; 31.04% registered with AF but not using OAC despite 95.6% having a CHA2DS2VASC ≥ 2 score; a risk of bleeding in important subgroups using OAC without indication (37.50% CHA2DS2VASC < 2 score); the use of OAC with TTR < 60% (33.1%), of whom 47.6% had a HAS-BLED score ≥3. Thus, 35.4% of the expected AF prevalence achieved an optimal time in the therapeutic range. CONCLUSIONS: The expected AF prevalence was 10.9% (n 5267), but the registered prevalence was 7.5% (n 3638). Only 35.04% (CI = 95%, 33.7-36.3) of AF patients treated with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) achieve the goal of TTR > 60%.

Atrial Fibrillation and Cardiovascular Comorbidities, Survival and Mortality: A Real-Life Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac tachyarrhythmia encountered in clinical practice affecting up to 10% of the population over 60 years old and its prevalence rises with age. The main goals were to characterize the AF patient population after the initial diagnosis of AF and to determine overall survival. METHODS: It is a real-life observational study of 269 subjects with an AF diagnosis over 60 years old randomly selected. The collected variables were: sociodemographic, cardiovascular complications/comorbidities (CVCs) included in the CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS_BLED scores, drug assigned as clinical treatment, mean range INR and CVCs and death dates (all-cause mortality). The survival curve and the risk of death were assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival curve and comparisons with log-rank. RESULTS: The average following time was 6.2 ± 3.7 years (0.2-20.4). Eleven point five percent died. Sixty-five point four percent had some CVCs. There were no differences in the overall incidence of CVCs by gender. The survival probability was 0.86 ± DE 0.03 among men and 0.90 ± DE 0.04 among women without differences. Thirty-six point eight percent (95% CI: 30.8 - 42.7) were diagnosed vascular complications before AF diagnosis, being ischemic cardiopathy (24.2%) and ischemic stroke (23.2%) the most frequent. The mortality is higher (P < 0.036) among those who suffered ≥ 3 vascular complications and significantly lower among those treated with statins (P = 0.032). After AF diagnosis, the most frequent was the cardiac heart failure (46.7%), significantly higher among women (P = 0.037). The mortality is significantly lower in those treated with OAC (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: AF is associated with ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke and congestive heart failure, but the average mortality age is not different from the global population in Spain and Catalonia.