Table 4.
Outcomes according to etiology of ND
| Etiology of ND | N* | Length of stay, d, median (range) |
No. of patients with persistent deterioration† (%) |
No. of patients with poor functional outcome‡ (%) |
No. of patients who expired during stay (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reversible | 45 | 11 (2–44) | 21 (50.0) | 31 (68.9) | 11 (24.4) |
| Infectious | 16 | 12 (4–44) | 7 (46.7) | 13 (81.2) | 5 (31.3) |
| Metabolic | 2 | 14 (11–16) | 0 | 2 (100.0) | 0 |
| Hemodynamic | 10 | 13 (2–21) | 3 (33.3) | 5 (50.0) | 2 (20.0) |
| Edema | 23 | 10 (2–45) | 18 (78.3) | 23 (100.0) | 11 (47.8) |
| Fluctuation | 14 | 8 (3–28) | 5 (35.7) | 6 (42.9) | 2 (14.3) |
| Sedation | 5 | 14 (7–28) | 1 (25.0) | 3 (60.0) | 0 |
| Seizure | 1 | 39 | 1 (100.0) | 1 (100.0) | 0 |
| Nonreversible | 67 | 9 (1–52) | 42 (63.6) | 53 (79.1) | 15 (22.4) |
| New stroke | 2 | 37 (21–52) | 2 (100.0) | 2 (100.0) | 1 (50.0) |
| Progressive stroke | 49 | 9 (2–45) | 30 (61.2) | 46 (73.5) | 7 (14.3) |
| Intracerebral hemorrhage | 19 | 10 (2–31) | 11 (61.1) | 17 (89.5) | 8 (42.1) |
| Cardiopulmonary arrest | 0 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Unknown etiology | 16 | 7 (1–33) | 8 (50.0) | 10 (62.5) | 3 (18.7) |
| P value§ | .0905 | .3095 | .2149 | .8940 |
Abbreviations: n/a, not applicable; ND, neurologic deterioration; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; IQR, interquartile range.
Several patients deteriorated by >1 etiology.
N represents the total number of patients who experienced each respective etiology of ND. However, when comparing patient groups in this table (patients with reversible ND against patients with nonreversible ND), patients were dichotomized as stated in the “Methods” section. Patients with both a reversible and nonreversible ND etiology were categorized only as having nonreversible ND. Therefore, several patients with reversible ND were not categorized as having reversible ND for these comparisons.
Persistent deterioration was defined as discharge NIHSS score > admission NIHSS score.
Poor functional outcome was defined as discharge modified Rankin Scale score > 3 points.
Compares reversible versus nonreversible etiologies of ND. Patients were dichotomized for this comparison as described in the “Methods” section.