Reference table predicting the outcome of subarachnoid hemorrhage in the elderly, stratified by age

Although the recovery from an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is hampered by advanced age, the impact of age on surgical outcome has not been evaluated quantitatively. We studied 168 patients with SAH treated between 2000 and 2002. Study variables included sex, age, location of aneurysm, preoperative Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score, and presence of intracerebral hematoma, vasospasm, or hydrocephalus. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were applied to test the effect of age and preoperative GCS scores on the likelihood of a favorable outcome. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.109; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.051-1.169) and decrements of preoperative GCS score (OR = 0.69; 95% CI = 0.586-0.812) were inversely associated with the likelihood of a favorable outcome. Based on the results, we generated a reference table that depicts the outcome based on the preoperative GCS score stratified by age. This simple reference table is useful in predicting surgical outcome in emergent situations. This study indicated that a 10-year advance in age is equivalent to a 2.3-point reduction in the GCS score.