ABBREVIATIONS BRAT = Barrow Ruptured Aneurysm Trial; CCI = Charlson Comorbidity Index; CSC = comprehensive stroke center; DPC = Diagnosis Procedure Combination; HAC = hospital-acquired condition; ISAT = International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial; JCS = Japan Coma Scale; mRS = modified Rankin Scale; PPV = positive predictive value; PSI = patient safety indicator; RCT = randomized controlled trial; SAH = subarachnoid hemorrhage. OBJECTIVE Although heterogeneity in patient outcomes following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has been observed across different centers, the relative merits of clipping and coiling for SAH remain unknown. The authors sought to compare the patient outcomes between these therapeutic modalities using a large nationwide discharge database encompassing hospitals with different comprehensive stroke center (CSC) capabilities. METHODS They analyzed data from 5214 patients with SAH (clipping 3624, coiling 1590) who had been urgently hospitalized at 393 institutions in Japan in the period from April 2012 to March 2013. In-hospital mortality, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score, cerebral infarction, complications, hospital length of stay, and medical costs were compared between the clipping and coiling groups after adjustment for patient-level and hospital-level characteristics by using mixedmodel analysis. RESULTS Patients who had undergone coiling had significantly higher in-hospital mortality (12.4% vs 8.7%, OR 1.3) and a shorter median hospital stay (32.0 vs 37.0 days, p < 0.001) than those who had undergone clipping. The respective proportions of patients discharged with mRS scores of 3-6 (46.4% and 42.9%) and median medical costs (thousands US$, 35.7 and 36.7) were not significantly different between the groups. These results remained robust after further adjustment for CSC capabilities as a hospital-related covariate.
SUBMITTED