title: No Impact of Body Mass Index on Outcome in Stroke Patients Treated with IV Thrombolysis BMI and IV Thrombolysis Outcome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The impact of excess body weight on prognosis after stroke is controversial. Many studies report higher survival rates in obese patients ("obesity paradox"). Recently, obesity has been linked to worse outcomes after intravenous (IV) thrombolysis, but the number and sample size of these studies were small. Here, we aimed to assess the relationship between body weight and stroke outcome after IV thrombolysis in a large cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective observational multicenter study, we analyzed baseline and outcome data of 896 ischemic stroke patients who underwent IV thrombolysis. Patients were categorized according to body mass index (BMI) as underweight (<18.5 kg/m2), normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (25-29.9 kg/m2), obese (30-34.9 kg/m2) or severely obese (>35 kg/m2). Using uni- and multivariate modeling, we assessed the relationship of BMI with favorable outcome (defined as modified Rankin Scale 0 or 1) and mortality 3 months after stroke as well as the occurrence of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhages (sICH). We also measured the incidence of patients that had an early neurological improvement of >40% on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) after 24 hours.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 896 patients, 321 were normal weight (35.8%), 22 underweight (2.5%), 378 overweight (42.2%), 123 obese (13.7%) and 52 severely obese (5.8%). Three-month mortality was comparable in obese vs. non-obese patients (8.1% vs. 8.3%) and did not differ significantly among different BMI groups. This was also true for favorable clinical outcome, risk of sICH and early neurological improvement on NIHSS at 24 hours. These results remained unchanged after adjusting for potential confounding factors in the multivariate analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BMI was not related to clinical outcomes in stroke patients treated with IVT. Our data suggest that the current weight-adapted dosage scheme of IV alteplase is appropriate for different body weight groups, and challenge the existence of the obesity paradox after stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland.|Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Meret
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4008-6916
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Branscheidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Juliane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elissavet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eskioglou
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaegi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.affiliation: Horten Centre, University of Zurich, Switzerland.|Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wertli
authors.affiliation: Horten Centre, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Held
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wegener
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luft
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland.|Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sarikaya
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator