Zixiao Li

Use of Warfarin at Discharge Among Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation in China

Background and Purpose— Guidelines recommend oral anticoagulation for ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation, and previous studies have shown the underuse of anticoagulation for these patients in China. We sought to explore the underlying reasons and factors that currently affect the use of warfarin in China. Methods— From June 2012 to January 2013, 19 604 patients with acute ischemic stroke were admitted to 219 urban hospitals voluntarily participating in the China National Stroke Registry II. Multivariable logistic regression models using the generalized estimating equation method were used to identify patient/hospital factors independently associated with warfarin use at discharge. Results— Among the 952 acute ischemic stroke patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, 19.4% were discharged on warfarin. The risk of bleeding (52.8%) and patient refusal (31.9%) were the main reasons for not prescribing anticoagulation. Larger/teaching hospitals were more likely to prescribe warfarin. Older patients, heavy drinkers, patients with higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score on admission were less likely to be given warfarin, whereas patients with history of heart failure and an international normalized ratio between 2.0 and 3.0 during hospitalization were significantly associated with warfarin use at discharge. Conclusions— The rate of warfarin use remains low among patients with ischemic stroke and known nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in China. Hospital size and academic status together with patient age, heart failure, heavy alcohol drinking, international normalized ratio in hospital, and stroke severity on admission were each independently associated with the use of warfarin at discharge. There is much room for improvement for secondary stroke prevention in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients in China.

Impact of proteinuria and glomerular filtration rate on risk of ischaemic and intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke: a result from the Kailuan study.

Persons with chronic kidney disease, defined by a reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate and proteinuria, have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease including stroke. However, data from developing countries are limited. Our aim was to assess the relationship between chronic kidney disease and risk of stroke and its subtypes in a community‐based population in China.

Risk Factors of Dilated Virchow-Robin Spaces Are Different in Various Brain Regions

Background and Purpose Few studies have reported on the risk factors of dilated Virchow-Robin Spaces (dVRS) in large samples of ischemic stroke patients. Little evidence exists regarding the relationship between dVRS and etiologic subtype of ischemic stroke or lacune. We aimed to investigate the risk factors associated with the severity of dVRS in a large sample of ischemic stroke patients. Methods We consecutively enrolled 1,090 patients who experienced an ischemic stroke within the past seven days and underwent a 3.0 T MRI scan in the Chinese IntraCranial AtheroSclerosis Study (ICAS). Clinical data and cranial MRI information of patients included age, sex, vascular risk factors, dVRS, leukoaraiosis, lacune, and etiologic subtype of ischemic stroke. Analyses were performed regarding the risk factors associated with the severity of dVRS by univariate analysis and multivariable ordinal logistic regression analysis. Results Through multivariable ordinal logistic regression analysis, age, the severity of leukoaraiosis, lacune, admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) ≤3, and the severity of dVRS in the white matter (WM) and hippocampus (Hip) were correlated with the severity of dVRS in basal ganglia (BG); male, history of hypertension, admission NIHSS ≤3, and the severity of dVRS in BG and Hip were correlated with the severity of dVRS in WM; female, the severity of leukoaraiosis, admission NIHSS >3, small artery occlusion subtype of ischemic stroke, and the severity of dVRS in BG and WM were correlated with the severity of dVRS in Hip. Conclusion dVRS is an indicator of cerebral small vessel diseases such as leukoaraiosis and lacune. However, the risk factors of dVRS differ in various brain regions.

Factors associated with severity of leukoaraiosis in first-ever lacunar stroke and atherosclerotic ischemic stroke patients.

BACKGROUND Leukoaraiosis (LA) is an indicator of small vessel disease, but little is known about the relationship between the severity of LA and etiologic subtype of ischemic stroke. Our study aimed to investigate the factors associated with the severity of LA and the relationship between the severity of LA and etiologic subtype of ischemic stroke. METHODS A total of 791 patients with first-ever ischemic stroke within 7 days were enrolled in our study. We evaluated cranial magnetic resonance imagings including severity of LA in periventricular and deep white matter, severity of silent lacunar infarcts (SLIs), etiologic subtype of ischemic stroke, and topographic patterns of acute cerebral infarcts. Severity of LA was graded as grade 0 when Fazekas scores = 0, grade 1 when Fazekas scores ranged from 1 to 2, and grade 2 when Fazekas scores were greater than or equal to 3. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression was used to analyze the factors associated with the severity of LA. RESULTS A total of 748 patients (94.6%) had LA, the numbers and proportions of grade 0, grade 1, and grade 2 LA were 43 patients (5.4%), 413 patients (52.2%), and 335 patients (42.4%), respectively. In multivariable ordinal logistic regression analysis, increasing age, higher diastolic blood pressure, admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores less than or equal to 3, presence of SLIs, and small artery occlusion (SAO) subtype of ischemic stroke were found to be independently associated with higher grade of LA. CONCLUSIONS LA is prevalent in first-ever ischemic stroke patients. Severe LA is more frequently associated with higher grades of SLIs and ischemic stroke due to SAO.

Substantial progress yet significant opportunity for improvement in Stroke Care in China

Background and Purpose— Stroke is a leading cause of death in China. Yet the adherence to guideline-recommended ischemic stroke performance metrics in the past decade has been previously shown to be suboptimal. Since then, several nationwide stroke quality management initiatives have been conducted in China. We sought to determine whether adherence had improved since then. Methods— Data were obtained from the 2 phases of China National Stroke Registries, which included 131 hospitals (12 173 patients with acute ischemic stroke) in China National Stroke Registries phase 1 from 2007 to 2008 versus 219 hospitals (19 604 patients) in China National Stroke Registries phase 2 from 2012 to 2013. Multiple regression models were developed to evaluate the difference in adherence to performance measure between the 2 study periods. Results— The overall quality of care has improved over time, as reflected by the higher composite score of 0.76 in 2012 to 2013 versus 0.63 in 2007 to 2008. Nine of 13 individual performance metrics improved. However, there were no significant improvements in the rates of intravenous thrombolytic therapy and anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation. After multivariate analysis, there remained a significant 1.17-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.14–1.21) increase in the odds of delivering evidence-based performance metrics in the more recent time periods versus older data. The performance metrics with the most significantly increased odds included stroke education, dysphagia screening, smoking cessation, and antithrombotics at discharge. Conclusions— Adherence to stroke performance metrics has increased over time, but significant opportunities remain for further improvement. Continuous stroke quality improvement program should be developed as a national priority in China.

Treatment Effect of Clopidogrel Plus Aspirin Within 12 Hours of Acute Minor Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack

Background The aim of this study was to analyze the benefits and safety associated with the combination therapy of clopidogrel and aspirin among minor stroke or transient ischemic attack patients treated within 12 hours. Methods and Results This was a subanalysis of the CHANCE (Clopidogrel in High‐Risk Patients with Acute Nondisabling Cerebrovascular Events) trial, mainly limited to the prespecified group of patients randomized within 12 hours to either the combination of clopidogrel plus aspirin or aspirin alone. The primary outcome was ischemic stroke during 90‐day follow‐up. Recurrent ischemic stroke and progressive ischemic stroke were analyzed. Multivariable Cox modeling showed that randomization within 12 hours was an independent predictor of ischemic stroke events (hazard ratio [95% CI] 1.25 [1.04–1.49], P=0.02). Among 2573 patients randomized within 12 hours, 282 (10.96%) patients had ischemic stroke events. Among them, 158 (12.34%) of 1280 patients taking aspirin experienced ischemic stroke compared with 124 (9.59%) of 1293 patients taking clopidogrel–aspirin (P=0.02). The dual antiplatelet was more effective than aspirin alone in reducing the risk of recurrent ischemic stroke (6.57% versus 8.91%, P=0.03) but not progressive ischemic stroke (3.02% versus 3.43%, P=0.28). There was no significant difference in hemorrhagic events (P=0.39). Conclusions Among patients treated within 12 hours, the combination of clopidogrel and aspirin was more effective than aspirin alone in reducing the risk of recurrent ischemic stroke during the 90‐day follow‐up and did not increase the hemorrhagic risk. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT00979589.

Stroke care quality in China: Substantial improvement, and a huge challenge and opportunity.

Stroke is The first two authors contributed equally. the leading cause of death and adult disability in China. Although evidence-based clinical interventions have been identified to improve care and outcomes in stroke, significant gaps still exist between guideline recommendations and clinical practice in China. Regional and national stroke registries have been used to assess the benchmark of stroke care quality, provide feedback on compliance with evidence-based performance measures to health care providers, and continuously improve stroke care quality without increasing additional medical costs in the past several decades worldwide. In China, stroke care has become a national priority. A series of stroke care quality assessment and improvement actions was initiated by the Ministry of Health to increase the detection of high-risk populations with stroke, rate of adherence to evidence-based process performance measures of stroke care, and stroke care organization development, aiming to decrease the burden of stroke. China National Stroke Registries have been started in 2007, and they are conducted every 3 to 5 years. A carotid disease screen and intervention project for communities was initiated in 2009. The Chinese Stroke Association, founded in 2015, launched the Chinese Stroke Center Alliance to increase the stroke center design in the near future. In this article, we described these stroke care actions and progression, summarized the benchmark and improvement of stroke care quality, and outlined the future plans in China.

Disrupted White Matter Network and Cognitive Decline in Type 2 Diabetes Patients.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is accompanied by cognitive impairment and is associated with an increased risk of dementia. Damage to brain structures such as white matter network disruption may underlie this cognitive disturbance. In the present study, 886 non-diabetic and 163 type 2 diabetic participants completed a battery of neuropsychological tests. Among them, 38 diabetic patients and 34 non-diabetic participants that matched the patients for age/sex/education received a magnetic resonance imaging-based diffusion tensor imaging. Then we calculated the topological properties of the white matter network using a graph theoretical method to investigate network efficiency differences between groups. We found that type 2 diabetic patients had inferior performances compared to the non-diabetic controls, in several cognitive domains involving executive function, spatial processing, memory, and attention. We also found that diabetic patients exhibited a disrupted topological organization of the white matter network (including the global network properties, i.e., network strength, global efficiency, local efficiency and shortest path length, and the nodal efficiency of the right rolandic operculum) in the brain. Moreover, those global network properties and the nodal efficiency of the right rolandic operculum both had positive correlations with executive function in the patient group. The results suggest that type 2 diabetes mellitus leads to an alteration in the topological organization of the cortical white matter network and this alteration may account for the observed cognitive decline.

Association between Seizures and Outcomes among Intracerebral Hemorrhage Patients: The China National Stroke Registry

BACKGROUND To determine whether the presence of seizures in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) was associated with in-hospital complications and measured outcomes. METHODS This prospective cohort study from the China National Stroke Registry included consecutive patients with ICH between August 2007 and September 2008. In-hospital complications, functional outcomes, and mortality at 3, 6, and 12 months were compared between patients with seizures and those without seizures occurring at ICH onset and during hospitalization. Poor functional outcome was defined as a modified Rankin Scale score between 3 and 6. Poor functional outcome and mortality were stratified by stroke severity using Glasgow Coma Scale scores on admission. RESULTS The study included 3216 patients with ICH and 139 of them (4.3%) experienced seizures. The presence of seizures was associated with high in-hospital complications including atrial fibrillation (P = .004), pneumonia (P = .001), as well as lower rehabilitation assessment rates (P = .033) compared with patients without seizures. ICH patients with seizures had poorer functional outcome at 3-month (P = .012), 6-month (P = .007), and 12-month (P = .001) follow-up. They also had higher mortality at 3 months (P = .045), 6 months (P = .005), and 12 months (P = .002). Patients with mild strokes had poorer functional outcome and higher mortality (P < .005) if seizures occurred. CONCLUSIONS The presence of seizures in patients with ICH was associated with high in-hospital complications and indicates poor outcomes at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. Quality improvement strategies targeting ICH patients with seizures especially mild stroke may help improve prognoses.

Rationale and design of a cluster-randomized multifaceted intervention trial to improve stroke care quality in China: The GOLDEN BRIDGE-Acute Ischemic Stroke.

BACKGROUND Prior studies have demonstrated a significant gap between guideline-based recommendations and clinical practice in the management of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in China. AIMS This study implements a targeted multifaceted quality improvement intervention in AIS patients and identifies the feasibility and efficacy of this intervention. DESIGN This is a multicenter, 2-arm, open-label, cluster-randomized trial involving 40 clusters (hospitals) from China National Network of Stroke Research. Hospitals are randomized to receive a targeted multifaceted quality improvement intervention (experimental group) or routine standard of care (control group). The multifaceted intervention includes an evidence-based clinical pathway, written care protocols, a quality coordinator, and a monitoring and feedback system of performance measures. The number of enrolled patients in the trial will be 4,800. Primary outcome is the measure of the adherence to AIS evidence-based performance measures including the composite measure (defined as the total number of interventions performed among eligible patients divided by the total number of possible interventions among eligible patients) and the all-or-none measure (defined as the proportion of eligible patients who receive all of the performance measure interventions for which they are eligible). Secondary patient outcomes include inhospital death; a new vascular event; disability; and all-cause death at 3, 6, and 12 months after initial symptom onset. All analyses will be performed according to the intention-to-treatment principle and accounted for clustering using generalized estimating equations. CONCLUSIONS If proven effective, this targeted multifaceted intervention model will be extended nationwide as a model to bridge the evidence-based gap in the AIS management in China.