School of Medicine Publications and Presentations
Acute ischaemic stroke associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in North America
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2022
Abstract
Background: To analyse the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 with acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) and identify factors predicting functional outcome.
Methods: Multicentre retrospective cohort study of COVID-19 patients with AIS who presented to 30 stroke centres in the USA and Canada between 14 March and 30 August 2020. The primary endpoint was poor functional outcome, defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) of 5 or 6 at discharge. Secondary endpoints include favourable outcome (mRS ≤2) and mortality at discharge, ordinal mRS (shift analysis), symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage (sICH) and occurrence of in-hospital complications.
Results: A total of 216 COVID-19 patients with AIS were included. 68.1% (147/216) were older than 60 years, while 31.9% (69/216) were younger. Median [IQR] National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) at presentation was 12.5 (15.8), and 44.2% (87/197) presented with large vessel occlusion (LVO). Approximately 51.3% (98/191) of the patients had poor outcomes with an observed mortality rate of 39.1% (81/207). Age >60 years (aOR: 5.11, 95% CI 2.08 to 12.56, p<0.001), diabetes mellitus (aOR: 2.66, 95% CI 1.16 to 6.09, p=0.021), higher NIHSS at admission (aOR: 1.08, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.14, p=0.006), LVO (aOR: 2.45, 95% CI 1.04 to 5.78, p=0.042), and higher NLR level (aOR: 1.06, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.11, p=0.028) were significantly associated with poor functional outcome.
Conclusion: There is relationship between COVID-19-associated AIS and severe disability or death. We identified several factors which predict worse outcomes, and these outcomes were more frequent compared to global averages. We found that elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, rather than D-Dimer, predicted both morbidity and mortality.
Recommended Citation
Dmytriw, A. A., Dibas, M., Phan, K., Efendizade, A., Ospel, J., Schirmer, C., Settecase, F., Heran, M., Kühn, A. L., Puri, A. S., Menon, B. K., Sivakumar, S., Mowla, A., Vela-Duarte, D., Linfante, I., Dabus, G. C., Regenhardt, R. W., D'Amato, S., Rosenthal, J. A., Zha, A., … North American Neurovascular COVID-19 (NAN-C) Consortium & Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN) Investigators (2022). Acute ischaemic stroke associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in North America. Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 93(4), 360–368. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2021-328354
Publication Title
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry
DOI
10.1136/jnnp-2021-328354
Academic Level
faculty
Mentor/PI Department
Neurology
Comments
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.