Early prediction of death in acute hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage

Hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HICH) has been on the decline. However, mortality at long-term follow up is on the increase. The aim of the present study was to investigate early warning signals of death in patients with acute HICH. The medical records of 128 patients with acute HICH within 6 h of onset were retrospectively analyzed. For these patients, systolic blood pressure (BP) was recorded at different time points (emergency, admission, every 6 h within 24 h and twice daily after 24 h) within 1 week. Computed tomography scanning was performed at emergency and the following 24 +/- 3 h to assess the hematoma volume. Neurological impairment was evaluated using the Glasgow Coma Scale and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale. Outcomes were death, defined as a modified Rankin scale score 6, at 90 days. The results showed that at 90 days, 15 HICH patients succumbed (mortality of 11.7%). Of the 15 patients, 1 patient (6.7%) sucumbed within 24 h and 6 patients (40%) within 1 week. HICH mortality was closely associated with age (P<0.001) but not with gender. A significant association was detected between mortality and high BP taken at 30 min, 45 min and 6 h after admission (P=0.003), albeit not at emergency and admission (P>0.05). Death was also correlated with hematoma volume at 24 h but not with the site. Results from the multivariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that age and hematoma volume were independent risk factors of death of HICH. In conclusion, age and hematoma volume may be important early predictors of death in HICH. Proactive control and management of hematoma may reduce the mortality of HICH.