Risks of hospitalization for the composite outcome (acute coronary syndrome or stroke) in the LUTS group and the non-LUTS group.

<p>LUTS =  lower urinary tract symptoms; PY =  person-year; IR =  incidence rate, per 1000 person-years; IRR =  incidence rate ratio.</p>*<p>Estimated with Poisson regression.</p

Univariate and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analyses for the risk of hospitalization for the composite outcome.

*<p>The model contained all the listed variables.</p><p>LUTS =  lower urinary tract symptom; HR = hazard ratio; CI = confidence interval.</p

Probabilities of hospitalization for (1a) composite outcome of acute coronary syndrome or stroke, (1b) acute coronary syndrome, (1c) stroke, in subjects with and without lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

<p>Probabilities of hospitalization for (1a) composite outcome of acute coronary syndrome or stroke, (1b) acute coronary syndrome, (1c) stroke, in subjects with and without lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).</p

Basic characteristics between the LUTS group and the non-LUTS group.

<p>Data are number (%). LUTS =  lower urinary tract symptoms; SD =  standard deviation.</p

Leukoaraiosis and risk of intracranial hemorrhage and outcome after stroke thrombolysis

<div><p>Background</p><p>The impact of leukoaraiosis on the risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) after stroke thrombolysis is conflicting, and the data on Asian populations are lacking. Therefore, in this study, we assessed the association between leukoaraiosis and SICH, and the association between leukoaraiosis and the 90-day functional outcome in the Asian population.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Data were collected from a two-center prospective registry of acute ischemic stroke patients given intravenous tissue plasminogen activator between 2006 and 2014. A total of 614 pretreatment brain CT and 455 posttreatment MRI were retrospectively assessed using two different rating scales for the presence of leukoaraiosis. Outcome measures were the occurrence of SICH with three definitions and any hemorrhage after thrombolysis and functional outcome at 3 months.</p><p>Results</p><p>Of the 614 patients assessed, 30.3% showed severe leukoaraiosis on the baseline brain CT. The SICH rate was 4.6% - 7.2% based on different definitions, and overall, 24.9% of patients showed any post-tPA hemorrhage. No association was observed between the severity of leukoaraiosis and SICH, regardless of having used different leukoaraiosis rating scales or as assessment using different imaging modalities. However, severe leukoaraiosis was independently associated with poor functional outcome at 3 months (OR 1.96, 95% C1 1.24–3.11, <i>P</i> = 0.004) after adjustment for confounders.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Our results showed no association between leukoaraiosis and the risk of SICH. Although the presence of severe leukoaraiosis predicted a poor functional outcome after stroke, IV thrombolysis might not be withheld in acute ischemic stroke patients solely based on the presence of severe leukoaraiosis on pre-thrombolytic CT scans.</p></div

Demographic data and baseline characteristics.

<p>Demographic data and baseline characteristics.</p

The risk of SICH and any hemorrhage in patients with different levels of severity of leukoaraiosis based on MRI examination (N = 455).

<p>The risk of SICH and any hemorrhage in patients with different levels of severity of leukoaraiosis based on MRI examination (N = 455).</p

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Validity of a stroke severity index for administrative claims data research: a retrospective cohort study

Predictors of the stroke severity index and their corresponding billing codes in Taiwan’s National Health Insurance fee schedule. Table S2. Distribution of the NIHSS score across stroke severity groups stratified by the SSI based on unpublished data from the validation cohorts (n = 6617) of our prior study (Sung S-F, et al. J Clin Epidemiol. 2015;68:1292–1300). Table S3. Comparison between patients with and without successful linkage. Table S4. Comparison between patients with and without follow-up mRS. (PDF 93 kb

Flow chart of this study.

<p>Four patients were excluded in the association analysis of leukoaraiosis and SICH (Expired without post-tPA brain CT). Total 83 patients were excluded (poor pre-morbid function and loss of follow-up at 3 months) in the association analysis of leukoaraiosis and 90-day functional outcome. Note that all 455 patients with post-tPA MRI had post-tPA CT follow-up images, too.</p

The incidence of SICH and any hemorrhage in patients with different severity of leukoaraiosis and the effect of leukoaraiosis on SICH.

<p>The incidence of SICH and any hemorrhage in patients with different severity of leukoaraiosis and the effect of leukoaraiosis on SICH.</p