Association of reperfusion therapy in acute ischemic stroke on PROMs after one year; a registry-based case-control...

Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) could expose meaningful differences but are scarcely investigated in acute stroke trials. We sought to investigate the association of reperfusion treatment after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) on PROMs, 1-year post-stroke.

A case-control study was conducted among patients admitted with AIS with PROMs collected after 1 year. PROMs included complete recovery, being able to return to life and activities, cognitive functions, depression, and fatigue. Cases were treated with reperfusion therapy (thrombolysis and/or thrombectomy) and compared to controls within the same cohort not receiving reperfusion therapy, matched for age, sex, the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) at admission and premorbid modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Adjusted conditional logistic and ordinal regression models were used to investigate the association.

We identified 271 reperfusion treated ischemic stroke patients (59 % men, mean ± SD age of 71 ± 14.5, mean ± SD NIHSS of 8 ± 7, 125 (46 %) with NIHSS ≤5) and 271 matched controls (59 % men, mean ± SD age of 71 ± 14.5, mean ± SD NIHSS of 7 ± 6, 147 (54 %) with NIHSS ≤5). Reperfusion treatment was associated with complete recovery (Odds ratio [OR] 2.19 [95 % CI, 1.36-3.56]), return to life and activities (OR 2.69 [95 % CI, 1.52-4.74]) and less fatigue (OR 0.37 [95 % CI, 0.17-0.80]). The results did not change in analyses restricted to NIHSS ≤5 (complete recovery (OR 1.80 [95 % CI, 1.01-3.24]) or return to prior life and activities (OR 2.57 [95 % CI, 1.16-5.7]).

Reperfusion treatment was associated with self-reported complete recovery, return to normal life and less fatigue 1-year post-stroke.