One-year case fatality and disability after posterior circulation infarction in a Chinese hospital-based stroke study.
OBJECTIVE
Controversy exists as to whether posterior circulation infarction (PCI) has a poorer outcome compared to anterior circulation infarction (ACI). We aimed to investigate whether PCI had different clinical outcomes from ACI in Chinese patients with ischemic stroke.


METHODS
Data on ischemic stroke patients with ACI or PCI were collected including demographics, risk factors and 1-month, 3-month, and 1-year case fatality and disability (defined as modified Rankin Scale 3-5). Multivariate regression models were used to analyze predictors for death and disability.


RESULTS
Of the 1,962 enrolled cases, 433 (22.1%) had PCI. The case fatality of PCI at 1-month, 3-month and 1-year follow-up (FU) were lower than that of ACI (3.93, 5.3 and 9.7% vs. 7.26, 9.3 and 13.7%, p <0.05), and the proportion of disability was also lower in PCI at 3-month FU (19.6 vs. 29.1%, p<0.001) and 1-year FU (6.5 vs. 15.2%, p<0.001). The adjusted hazard ratio of death for PCI was 0.52 at 1 month (95% CI 0.29-0.94) and 0.52 at 3 months (95% CI 0.31-0.85), and the adjusted odds of disability in patients with PCI was 0.53 at 1 year (95% CI 0.35-0.81).


CONCLUSIONS
In our cohort, patients with PCI have a lower risk of death at 1- and 3-month FU and a lower proportion of disability at 1-year FU, which needs to be verified by future studies.
The Stroke Clinical Research Unit, Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, PR China.
Wen-Dan
WD
Tao
Fan-Yi
FY
Kong
Zi-Long
ZL
Hao
Sen
S
Lin
De-Ren
DR
Wang
Bo
B
Wu
Ming
M
Liu
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006753:Hospital Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D020243:Infarction, Anterior Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D020762:Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors