Clinical Characteristics and Outcome of Patients with Hemorrhagic Stroke Admitted in Neurology Department in a Tertiary Hospital

This was a prospective observational study conducted on 197 patients of ≥ 18 years of age admitted with the diagnosis of hemorrhagic stroke in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Nepal from April 1 2023 to March 31, 2024. Patients who do not give consent or with post-traumatic hemorrhages, hemorrhagic transformation of an ischemic stroke, or any intracranial hemorrhages other than primary intracranial hemorrhages were excluded from the study. The study protocol and design were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Committee of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital [Ref. 437 (6-11) E2]. Data was collected in a structured proforma.

The primary outcome of this study was to assess the functional outcome of the patients at 3 months of follow-up. The modified Rankin scale (mRS) was assessed in an outpatient setting during the follow-up. If patients did not attend the 3-month follow-up, mRS was assessed by telephone conversation. Clinical outcome was dichotomously categorized as good outcome if mRS was 0-2 and bad outcome if mRS was ≥ 3.

Analysis for categorical data was done by Chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test. Analysis for continuous data was done using either parametric tests like the t-test, or non-parametric tests like the Mann-Whitney U test depending on the distribution of data. Predictors of clinical outcomes were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression.