Long-Term Neurologic Outcomes in Pediatric Arterial Ischemic Stroke: The Impact of Age and Lesion Location

BACKGROUND: The impact of age-at-stroke on outcome following pediatric arterial ischemic stroke remains controversial. We studied the interaction of age-at-stroke and infarct location and extent with long-term neurological outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal prospective outcome study of children with acute pediatric arterial ischemic stroke diagnosed from 1996 to 2016 at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure scores were dichotomized as normal or abnormal (ie, mild, moderate, or severe). Outcomes were analyzed by age-at-stroke (newborn: birth to 28 days; early childhood: 29 days to 5 years; middle/late childhood: >5-18 years), and infarct location, based on each of the following: model 1: circulation (anterior/posterior); model 2: cortical versus subcortical involvement; and model 3: specific arterial territory, including infarct extent (small [<50% arterial territory] or large [>= 50%]). Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were fitted. RESULTS: Among 285 children, the outcome at median 6.1 years was 43.5% abnormal. Controlling for infarct location, increasing age-at-stroke was associated with increasing abnormal outcome. Model 1 demonstrated that, compared with neonates, abnormal outcomes were increased in early childhood (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.91 [95% CI, 1.24-7.05]) and more so in middle/late childhood (aOR, 4.46 [95% CI, 1.71-12.13]). Outcomes were worse for combined locations, including anterior+posterior (model 1: aOR, 15.4 [95% CI, 4.49-64.63]) and cortical+subcortical (model 2: aOR, 10.7 [95% CI, 3.88-32.74]). Abnormal outcomes were also increased for anterior circulation (model 1: aOR, 14.91 [95% CI, 5.29-54.21]) and subcortical locations (model 2: aOR, 4.36 [95% CI, 1.37-14.95]). Among individual arterial territories, outcomes were best for superior division middle cerebral artery (100% normal) and worst for lateral lenticulostriate artery infarcts (47.4% abnormal; model 3: aOR, 14.2 [95% CI, 3.5-67.6]). CONCLUSIONS: Among survivors of pediatric stroke, abnormal long-term neurological outcome is increased with increasing age-at-stroke, supporting enhanced plasticity after focal injury to the newborn brain compared with older pediatric ages.