Table 1.
Descriptive Characteristics of Medicare Patients with Ischemic Stroke in the USA by NIHSS Categories
| Variables | Overall cohort N=43,241 (100%) |
NIHSS categories | P-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–7 N=27,935 (64.6%) |
8–13 N=6,162 (14.3%) |
14–21 N=5,483 (12.7%) |
22–42 N=3,661 (8.5%) |
|||
| Age (years) | 80 (8.4) | 79 (8.1) | 80.8 (8.5) | 81.9 (8.4) | 83.2 (8.4) | <.0001 |
| Male (%) | 44.8 | 48.0 | 41.9 | 38.4 | 34.8 | <.0001 |
| Race (%) | ||||||
| White | 82.8 | 83.5 | 81.5 | 82.4 | 80.2 | <.0001 |
| Black | 9.1 | 8.7 | 9.9 | 9.8 | 9.3 | |
| Hispanic | 3.8 | 3.4 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 5.1 | |
| Dual status | 16.5 | 13.7 | 20.8 | 21.3 | 22.8 | <.0001 |
| Clinical characteristics | ||||||
| Length of stay (mean ±SD) | 5.6 (4.1) | 4.8 (3.0) | 6.5 (5.0) | 7.5 (5.0) | 7.2 (5.9) | <.0001 |
| Elixhauser score | 4.3 (1.9) | 3.9 (1.9) | 4.7 (1.9) | 5.1 (1.9) | 5.1 (1.9) | <.0001 |
| ICU admission | 37.4 | 26.1 | 48.6 | 62.9 | 66.2 | <.0001 |
| Feeding tube | 7.0 | 5.5 | 8.6 | 9.9 | 11.3 | <.0001 |
| tPA | 52.9 | 57.8 | 56.6 | 39.4 | 29.8 | <.0001 |
| Thrombectomy | 6.8 | 1.5 | 9.3 | 21.5 | 21.6 | <.0001 |
| History of stroke | 31.2 | 29.7 | 33.2 | 32.9 | 35.9 | <.0001 |
| 30-day readmission | 12.1 | 11.6 | 14.9 | 13.8 | 9.3 | <.0001 |
| 30-day mortality | 10.1 | 3.7 | 11.7 | 26.3 | 44.8 | <.0001 |
| Post-acute discharge destination, % | ||||||
| Home | 27.5 | 36.4 | 12.8 | 7.3 | 4.2 | <.0001 |
| Home with HH | 15.5 | 16.8 | 12.2 | 12.2 | 15.6 | |
| SNF | 22.3 | 18.5 | 29.9 | 31.0 | 29.1 | |
| IRF | 27.0 | 25.0 | 36.6 | 30.7 | 20.2 | |
| Other | 7.7 | 3.3 | 8.5 | 18.8 | 30.9 | |
| Hospital characteristics, % | ||||||
| Urban setting | 94.1 | 93.8 | 94.3 | 95.4 | 94.2 | <.0001 |
| Types of hospital | ||||||
| Safety-net hospital | 24.8 | 23.2 | 26.6 | 28.1 | 29.5 | <.0001 |
| Non-safety-net hospital | 74.2 | 75.9 | 72.2 | 70.8 | 69.2 | |
| Critical access hospital | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 | |
| Stroke volume | ||||||
| Low (0.6–5.4) | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.2 | <.0001 |
| Medium (5.4–9.4) | 38.0 | 39.5 | 36.9 | 34.5 | 34.0 | |
| High (9.4–68.3) | 60.8 | 59.3 | 62.0 | 64.6 | 64.9 | |
Values are presented as “%” for categorical variables and mean ± standard deviation (SD) for continuous variables. Length of stay is based on the number of days (mean ± SD was reported). HH home health, SNF skilled nursing facility, IRF inpatient rehabilitation facilities. Other includes hospice, long-term hospital, home with palliative care, and other federal hospitals. ICU intensive care unit
NIHSS categories: 1= 0–7: minor to moderate stroke, 2= 8–13: moderate stroke, 3= 14–21: moderate to severe stroke, 4= 22–42: severe stroke