Trends in Outcomes of Patients With Ischemic Stroke Treated Between 2002 and 2016: Insights From a Chinese Cohort.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about long-term trends in outcomes of patients with ischemic stroke in China. We aimed to assess longitudinal trends in these outcomes over the past 15 years in China and explore possible factors behind the trends. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients with ischemic stroke admitted to the Department of Neurology at West China Hospital were prospectively and consecutively enrolled in a central registry since 2002, and the present study analyzed data from those admitted to hospital within 7 days of stroke during the period 2002 to 2016. Patients were binned into three 5-year intervals for temporal analysis. Death, disability, and death/disability at 3 and 12 months after stroke were compared among the time intervals across the entire sample and in subsets stratified by age ( /=65 years). To explore the possible factors related to the trends in outcomes, interaction between the factors and time on outcomes was entered separately into the multivariable logistic regression model. Of 6462 patients with ischemic stroke in the final analysis, 3837 (59.4%) were men, and mean age was 64.2 years (SD, 13.7). Mean age at stroke onset and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score at admission decreased significantly during the 15-year period (P /=65 years. Only interactions of National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score on admission and time period (2012-2016) were found to significantly correlate with disability and death/disability at 3 and 12 months (all P