. Ehsan Sarbazi; . Parvin Sarbakhsh; . Daryoush Savadi Oskooei; . Mohammad Yazdchi; . Saber Ghaffari‑Fam; . Seyed Morteza Shamshirgaran
Volume 8, Issue 9 , September 2018, , Pages 1-7
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide andthe number of stroke cases has increased remarkably over the last 20 years. This study aimed atidentifying ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide andthe number of stroke cases has increased remarkably over the last 20 years. This study aimed atidentifying predictors of with 6‑month mortality of first‑ever stroke patients and the factors contributingto it in East Azerbaijan province.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A closed cohort study was carried out from April 2014 toDecember 2014. All cases of first‑ever diagnosed stroke were included in the study. Any transientischemic attack, silent brain infarctions, and the stroke cases which were neither associated withtrauma, blood disease nor with malignancy were excluded from the study. The variables of this studyinclude participants’ demographic characteristics, stroke severity National Institutes of Health StrokeScale (NIHSS), and stroke risk factors. Patients were followed up within 6 months. To determine thesurvival time, the log‑rank method was applied to compare intergroup differences. The tests includethe univariate and multivariate analysis Cox regression. P < 0.05 were considered as statisticallysignificant.RESULTS: A total of 576 cases of stroke were included in this study. Average age of ischemic andhemorrhagic stroke was 70.15 ± 13.0 and 67.79 ± 12.69, respectively. Case‑fatality rate (CFR)of stroke patients was 49.2 and 21.7% in hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke types, respectively.Factors contributing to stroke mortality events include the severity of stroke (NIHSS categories15–19 and ≥20), age over 65, being female, high body mass index and hyperlipidemia. In thefinal model, the severity of stroke (with NIHSS 15–19 with hazard ratio (HR) 4.22 (95% confidenceinterval [CI] 2.36–7.56) and NIHSS ≥20 with HR 5.34 (95% CI: 2.81–10.12) and age above 65 withHR 1.61 (95% CI: 1.02–2.51) were the most important predictors of 6‑month mortality.CONCLUSION: Severity of stroke by NIHSS was the most prominent factor in stroke patients’mortality. By increasing the follow‑up time, a better evaluation of the predictors of mortality afterstroke can be achieved.