Browsing by Subject "ischemic stroke"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The association between socioeconomic status and disability after stroke: Findings from the Adherence eValuation After Ischemic stroke Longitudinal (AVAIL) registry
    (2014-03) Bettger, Janet Prvu; Zhao, Xin; Bushnell, Cheryl; Zimmer, Louise; Pan, Wenqin; Williams, Linda S.; Peterson, Eric D
    Background Stroke is the leading cause of disability among adults in the United States. The association of patients’ pre-event socioeconomic status (SES) with post-stroke disability is not well understood. We examined the association of three indicators of SES—educational attainment, working status, and perceived adequacy of household income—with disability 3-months following an acute ischemic stroke. Methods We conducted retrospective analyses of a prospective cohort of 1965 ischemic stroke patients who survived to 3 months in the Adherence eValuation After Ischemic stroke – Longitudinal (AVAIL) study. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the relationship of level of education, pre-stroke work status, and perceived adequacy of household income with disability (defined as a modified Rankin Scale of 3–5 indicating activities of daily living limitations or constant care required). Results Overall, 58% of AVAIL stroke patients had a high school or less education, 61% were not working, and 27% perceived their household income as inadequate prior to their stroke. Thirty five percent of patients were disabled at 3-months. After adjusting for demographic and clinical factors, stroke survivors who were unemployed or homemakers, disabled and not-working, retired, less educated, or reported to have inadequate income prior to their stroke had a significantly higher odds of post-stroke disability. Conclusions In this cohort of stroke survivors, socioeconomic status was associated with disability following acute ischemic stroke. The results may have implications for public health and health service interventions targeting stroke survivors at risk of poor outcomes.
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    Diagnosing and managing sleep apnea in patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease: a randomized trial of a home-based strategy
    (Springer, 2017-07) Bravata, Dawn M.; McClain, Vincent; Austin, Charles; Ferguson, Jared; Burrus, Nicholas; Miech, Edward J.; Matthias, Marianne S.; Chumbler, Neale; Ofner, Susan; Foresman, Brian; Sico, Jason; Vaz Fragoso, Carlos A.; Williams, Linda S.; Agarwal, Rajiv; Concato, John; Yaggi, H. Klar; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    Background Obstructive sleep apnea is common and associated with poor outcomes after stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). We sought to determine whether the intervention strategy improved sleep apnea detection, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) treatment, and hypertension control among patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease and hypertension. Methods In this randomized controlled strategy trial intervention, patients received unattended polysomnography at baseline, and patients with OSA (apnea-hypopnea index ≥5 events/h) received auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for up to 1 year. Control patients received usual care and unattended polysomnography at the end of the study, to identify undiagnosed OSA. Both groups received 24-h blood pressure assessments at baseline and end of the study. “Excellent” CPAP adherence was defined as cumulative use of ≥4 h/night for ≥70% of the nights. Results Among 225 randomized patients (115 control; 110 intervention), 61.9% (120/194) had sleep apnea. The strategy successfully diagnosed sleep apnea with 97.1% (102/105) valid studies; 90.6% (48/53, 95% CI 82.7–98.4%) of sleep apnea was undiagnosed among control patients. The intervention improved long-term excellent CPAP use: 38.6% (22/57) intervention versus 0% (0/2) control (p < 0.0001). The intervention did not improve hypertension control in this population with well-controlled baseline blood pressure: intervention, 132.7 mmHg (±standard deviation, 14.1) versus control, 133.8 mmHg (±14.0) (adjusted difference, −1.1 mmHg, 95% CI (−4.2, 2.0)), p = 0.48). Conclusions Patients with cerebrovascular disease and hypertension have a high prevalence of OSA. The use of portable polysomnography, and auto-titrating CPAP in the patients’ homes, improved both the diagnosis and the treatment for sleep apnea compared with usual care but did not lower blood pressure.
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    Impact of Gabapentin and Pregabalin on Neurological Outcome After Ischemic Stroke
    (2023-04-28) Weber, Michael; Morton, Caleb; Chang, Fen-Lei
    Background: The purpose of this study is to determine whether patients taking either gabapentin or pregabalin at the time of their stroke injury tend to have better outcomes than patients with similar injuries who were not taking one of the two medications. Prior studies have shown potential neuro-protective effects of these two medications. Methods: A retrospective chart review of 115 ischemic stroke patients from 2016-2021 were assessed for patient outcomes using two tools, the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), in addition to their hospital length of stay. The outcomes of patients taking either gabapentin or pregabalin with stroke diagnoses are compared to patients with stroke diagnoses who were not taking either medication. Kruskal-Wallis and X2 were used for statistical analysis. Results: There was a significantly larger proportion of gabapentin patients that improved compared to patients in the control group when using the mRS tool for patient outcomes (X2; p=0.015). The gabapentin group showed a significantly larger improvement in the NIHSS scores from admission to discharge (Kruskal-Wallis; p=0.0005). Patients on gabapentin had a longer hospital stay than those not taking the medication by 1.7 days (t-test; p=0.041). Discussion: Our data support the potential neuro-protective effect of gabapentin/pregabalin with improved outcomes after an ischemic stroke using two parallel outcome measures of NIHSS and mRS scores. Of interest, patient hospital stays were longer on gabapentin/pregabalin, which may contribute to the improved outcomes. We need larger patient groups to confirm and further study our findings. This often can be facilitated by studies involving larger medical practices, insurance, or payer databases. In addition, further investigation of potential confounders, other pharmaceuticals, other nervous system injury mechanisms, and impact of associated cost and care quality issues should occur.
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    Inpatient stroke care quality for Veterans: Are there differences between VA medical centers in the stroke belt and other areas?
    (Wiley, 2015-01) Jia, Huanguang; Phipps, Michael S.; Bravata, Dawn M.; Castro, Jaime; Li, Xinli; Ordin, Diana L.; Myers, Jennifer; Vogel, W. Bruce; Williams, Linda S.; Chumbler, Neale R.; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    Background Stroke mortality has been found to be much higher among residents in the stroke belt region than in the rest of United States, but it is not known whether differences exist in the quality of stroke care provided in Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers in states inside and outside this region. Objective We compared mortality and inpatient stroke care quality between Veterans Affairs medical centers inside and outside the stroke belt region. Methods Study patients were veterans hospitalized for ischemic stroke at 129 Veterans Affairs medical centers. Inpatient stroke care quality was assessed by 14 quality indicators. Multivariable logistic regression models were fit to examine differences in quality between facilities inside and outside the stroke belt, adjusting for patient characteristics and Veterans Affairs medical centers clustering effect. Results Among the 3909 patients, 28·1% received inpatient ischemic stroke care in 28 stroke belt Veterans Affairs medical centers, and 71·9% obtained care in 101 non-stroke belt Veterans Affairs medical centers. Patients cared for in stroke belt Veterans Affairs medical centers were more likely to be younger, Black, married, have a higher stroke severity, and less likely to be ambulatory pre-stroke. We found no statistically significant differences in short- and long-term post-admission mortality and inpatient care quality indicators between the patients cared for in stroke belt and non-stroke belt Veterans Affairs medical centers after risk adjustment. Conclusions These data suggest that a stroke belt does not exist within the Veterans Affairs health care system in terms of either post-admission mortality or inpatient care quality.
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    Using Radiological Data to Estimate Ischemic Stroke Severity
    (Elsevier, 2016-04) Sico, Jason J.; Phipps, Michael S.; Concato, John; Brandt, Cynthia; Wells, Carolyn K.; Lo, Albert C.; Nadeau, Stephen E.; Williams, Linda S.; Gorman, Mark; Boice, John L.; Bravata, Dawn M.; Department of Neurology, IU School of Medicine
    Background Risk-adjusted poststroke mortality has been proposed for use as a measure of stroke care quality. Although valid measures of stroke severity (e.g., the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS]) are not typically available in administrative datasets, radiology reports are often available within electronic health records. We sought to examine whether admission head computed tomography data could be used to estimate stroke severity. Materials and Methods Using chart review data from a cohort of acute ischemic stroke patients (1998-2003), we developed a radiographic measure ([BIS]) of stroke severity in a two-third development set and assessed in a one-third validation set. The retrospective NIHSS was dichotomized as mild/moderate (<10) and severe (≥10). We compared the association of this radiographic score with NIHSS and in-hospital mortality at the patient level. Results Among 1348 stroke patients, 86.5% had abnormal findings on initial head computed tomography. The c-statistic for the BIS for modeling severe stroke (development, .581; validation, .579) and in-hospital mortality (development, .623; validation, .678) were generated. Conclusions Although the c-statistics were only moderate, the BIS provided significant risk stratification information with a 2-variable score. Until administrative data routinely includes a valid measure of stroke severity, radiographic data may provide information for use in risk adjustment.