Does dementia increase risk of thrombolysis?: A case-control study

Dementia represents a potential challenge when thrombolysis is a treatment option. In this study, we assess the impact of dementia on the rate of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and hospital mortality associated with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in patients treated with thrombolysis. A cohort of patients with AIS was identified from the National Inpatient Sample database for the years 2000 to 2007. Vascular and degenerative types of dementia were identified by the International Classification of Diseases-9-CM codes. A matched random sample without dementia was selected from a pool of those with AIS and treated with thrombolysis. In this analysis, 35,557 patients with diagnosis of dementia were included; 207 (0.56%) received thrombolysis. In-hospital mortality (17.48% vs 8.63%) and ICH (5.80% vs 0.38%) were higher in the thrombolysis group (p < 0.0001) compared to those who did not receive thrombolysis. Multivariate analysis showed that thrombolysis was associated with increased hospital mortality (odds ratio [OR] 16.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] 8.54-30.53) and ICH (OR 2.80; 95% CI 1.82-4.32). Compared to a matched population of patients without dementia treated with thrombolysis (n = 621), those who had dementia and were treated with thrombolysis had similar risks of ICH (5.80% vs 4.51%, p = 0.45) and mortality (17.39% vs 14.49%, p = 0.31) rates. With thrombolysis, ICH remained a predictor of mortality for both dementia and control groups (OR 2.25; 95% CI 1.02-4.99). The administration of thrombolysis for AIS in patients with dementia was not associated with increased risk of ICH or death compared to the counterparts without dementia. ICH remained as predictor of mortality.