Stroke Outcome in Clinical Trial Patients Deriving From Different Countries

Background and Purpose— Stroke incidence and outcome vary widely within and across geographical locations. We examined whether differences in index stroke severity, stroke risk factors, mortality, and stroke outcome across geographical locations remain after adjusting for case mix. Methods— We analyzed 3284 patients from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive (VISTA). We used logistic regression to examine the incidence of mild index stroke, functional, and neurological outcomes after accounting for age, medical history, year of trial recruitment, and initial stroke severity in the functional and neurological outcome analyses. We examined mortality between geographical regions using a Cox proportional hazards model, accounting for age, initial stroke severity, medical history, and year of trial recruitment. Results— Patients enrolled in the USA and Canada had the most severe index strokes. Those recruited in Austria and Switzerland had the best functional and neurological outcomes at 90 days (P<0...