Background and objective: The potential impact of rebleeding and Delayed Cerebral Ischemia (DCI) on long-term survival in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) remained unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether DCI and rebleeding increase the risk of long-term all-cause mortality in patients with aSAH who survived the follow-up period of one year.
Methods: We retrospectively collected data on patients with atraumatic aSAH who were still alive 12 months after aSAH occurrence between December 2013 and June 2019 from the electronic health system. Patients were then classified by the occurrence of rebleeding or DCI during hospitalization. Death records were obtained from an administrative database, the Chinese Household Registration Administration System, until April 20, 2021. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare overall survival in different groups. Sensitivity analysis was performed with propensity-score matching (PSM).
Results: A total of 2,607 patients were alive one year after aSAH. The crude annual death rate from any cause among patients who had rebleeding (7.2 per 100 person-years) and patients who had DCI (3.7 per 100 person-years) during hospitalization was higher than that of patients with neither event (2.1 per 100 person-years). Multivariate analysis showed that rebleeding is an independent risk factor for long-term mortality (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 2.37; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.47- 3.81). DCI was an independent prognostic factor of poorer overall survival (aHR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.54-2.84).
Conclusion: Amongst patients alive one year after aSAH, rebleeding and DCI during hospitalization were independently associated with higher rates of long-term mortality.
Keywords: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage; delayed cerebral ischemia; intracranial aneurysm; mortality; rebleeding; survival analysis.
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