Association between seizures and mortality in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: A nationwide retrospective cohort analysis.

PURPOSE: The impact of seizures on outcomes in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is not well understood, with conflicting results published in the literature.

METHOD: For this retrospective cohort analysis, data from the Nationwide Inpatient Samples (NIS) for 2006-2011 were utilized. All patients aged ≥18 years with a primary admitting diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage were included. Patients with a diagnosis of seizure were segregated from the initial cohort. Multivariable logistic regression modeled the risk of death while adjusting for severity of SAH as well as co-morbidities. The primary outcome of this analysis was in-hospital mortality.

RESULTS: 12,647 patients met inclusion criteria for the study, of which 1336 had a diagnosis of seizures. The unadjusted in-hospital mortality was higher for patients with seizures compared to those without (16.2% vs 11.6%, p<0.01). Compared to patients without seizures, patients with seizures were younger (52.4 years SD 13.9 vs 54.8 years, SD 13.6; p<0.01), more likely to be male (35.6% vs 31.0%, p<0.01) and had longer hospital stays (18.3 days, IQR 12.0-27.5 vs 14.8 days, IQR 10.0-21.9; p<0.01). After adjusting for the severity of SAH, seizures were found to be associated with increased mortality (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.32-1.87, p<0.01).

CONCLUSION: In this large nationwide analysis, the presence of seizures in patients with SAH was associated with higher in-hospital mortality. This finding has potentially important implications for goals of care decision-making and prognostication, but further study in the area is needed.