No Impact of Body Mass Index on Outcome in Stroke Patients Treated with IV Thrombolysis BMI and IV Thrombolysis Outcome

PLoS One. 2016 Oct 11;11(10):e0164413. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164413. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Background and purpose: The impact of excess body weight on prognosis after stroke is controversial. Many studies report higher survival rates in obese patients ("obesity paradox"). Recently, obesity has been linked to worse outcomes after intravenous (IV) thrombolysis, but the number and sample size of these studies were small. Here, we aimed to assess the relationship between body weight and stroke outcome after IV thrombolysis in a large cohort study.

Methods: In a prospective observational multicenter study, we analyzed baseline and outcome data of 896 ischemic stroke patients who underwent IV thrombolysis. Patients were categorized according to body mass index (BMI) as underweight (<18.5 kg/m2), normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (25-29.9 kg/m2), obese (30-34.9 kg/m2) or severely obese (>35 kg/m2). Using uni- and multivariate modeling, we assessed the relationship of BMI with favorable outcome (defined as modified Rankin Scale 0 or 1) and mortality 3 months after stroke as well as the occurrence of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhages (sICH). We also measured the incidence of patients that had an early neurological improvement of >40% on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) after 24 hours.

Results: Among 896 patients, 321 were normal weight (35.8%), 22 underweight (2.5%), 378 overweight (42.2%), 123 obese (13.7%) and 52 severely obese (5.8%). Three-month mortality was comparable in obese vs. non-obese patients (8.1% vs. 8.3%) and did not differ significantly among different BMI groups. This was also true for favorable clinical outcome, risk of sICH and early neurological improvement on NIHSS at 24 hours. These results remained unchanged after adjusting for potential confounding factors in the multivariate analyses.

Conclusion: BMI was not related to clinical outcomes in stroke patients treated with IVT. Our data suggest that the current weight-adapted dosage scheme of IV alteplase is appropriate for different body weight groups, and challenge the existence of the obesity paradox after stroke.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Observational Study

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Body Mass Index*
  • Body Weight
  • Female
  • Fibrinolytic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Humans
  • Intracranial Hemorrhages / etiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Obesity / complications
  • Odds Ratio
  • Prognosis
  • Prospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Stroke / drug therapy*
  • Stroke / mortality
  • Stroke / pathology
  • Survival Analysis
  • Thrombolytic Therapy*
  • Tissue Plasminogen Activator / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Fibrinolytic Agents
  • Tissue Plasminogen Activator

Grants and funding

HS was supported by research grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Swiss Heart Foundation (https://www.swissheart.ch), Bangerter Foundation (http://www.bangerter-stiftung.ch) and the Hermann Klaus Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.