NIH Stroke Scale Items Associated With Poor Outcomes in Patients 'Too Good To Treat' With IV Alteplase.

Introduction: Prior reports showed poor outcomes in patients who did not receive IV tPA after acute ischemic stroke (AIS), due to mild or rapidly improving symptoms. (“too good to treat”, TGTT). Many factors have been associated with poor outcomes in this group of patients. We sought to evaluate individual NIHSS items associated with poor outcomes in these TGTT patients who didn’t receive thrombolysis. Methods: Using the GWTG stroke registry data from a large comprehensive stroke center in the Northeast, we analyzed 9,215 consecutive stroke admissions from 02/2002 - 04/2018 and identified patients who did not receive IV tPA due to TGTT. NIHSS items were grouped into Level of Consciousness (LOC), Language, Vision, Motor, Sensory and Coordination. Factors associated with poor outcome (defined as all discharge locations other than home) and in-hospital mortality were evaluated by univariate and multivariable regression with significance at p<0.05. Results: Of the 9, 215 analyzed patients, 444 (4.8%) didn’t received tPA due to being TGTT despite presenting within 4.5 hours of last know well. Patients with poor outcomes were more likely to be older, female, have a history of diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and present more often with deficits in level of consciousness, vision, motor, language and sensation. On multivariable analysis, age (OR 1.06, 95% CI (1.04, 1.08)), diabetes (OR 3.65, 95% CI (2.00, 6.71)), and deficits in LOC (OR 4.91, 95% CI (2.35, 10.24)) and strength (OR 4.65, 95% CI (2.79, 7.74)) were independently associated with poor outcome. Factors independently associated with in-hospital mortality were age, and deficits in LOC and strength. Conclusion: Half of all patients who did not receive thrombolysis due to TGTT in our sample had poor outcomes and 8.8% of those died in-hospital. Advanced age, and initial deficits in LOC and strength were strong predictors of a poor outcome. When present in milder strokes, these factors warrant careful consideration for tPA use.