Prediction of Neurological Deterioration After Intracerebral Hemorrhage: The SIGNALS Score

Background Intracerebral hemorrhage is the most disabling and lethal form of stroke. We aimed to develop a novel clinical score for neurological deterioration during hospitalization after intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods and Results We analyzed data from the CHERRY (Chinese Cerebral Hemorrhage: Mechanism and Intervention) study. Two-thirds of eligible patients were randomly allocated into the training cohort (n=1027) and one-third into the validation cohort (n=515). Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with neurological deterioration (an increase in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale of ≥4 or death) within 15 days after symptom onset. A prediction score was developed based on regression coefficients derived from the logistic model. The site, size, gender, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, age, leukocyte, sugar (SIGNALS) score was developed as a sum of individual points (0-8) based on site (1 point for infratentorial location), size (3 points for >20 mL of supratentorial hematoma volume or 2 points for >10 mL of infratentorial hematoma volume), sex (1 point for male sex), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (1 point for >10), age (1 point for ≥70 years), white blood cell (1 point for>9.0×10⁹/L), and fasting blood glucose (1 point>7.0 mmol/L). The proportion of patients who suffered from neurological deterioration increased with higher SIGNALS score, showing good discrimination and good calibration in the training cohort (C statistic, 0.821; Hosmer-Lemeshow test, P=0.687) and in the validation cohort (C statistic, 0.848; Hosmer-Lemeshow test, P=0.592), respectively. Conclusions The SIGNALS score reliably predicts the risk of in-hospital neurological deterioration of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.