Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Very Elderly

Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) incidences increase with age. Patients of advanced age may have limitations during acute care and recovery. We investigated baseline characteristics, hematoma features, and outcomes of very elderly ICH patients (>= 80 years old) and compared them with those of younger ICH patients (<80 years old). Methods: We studied 377 patients (122 women; 69 +/- 11 years old) admitted within 24 hours of ICH onset. Outcome measures included hematoma volumes, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores on admission, and vital and functional prognoses at 30 days. Results: After adjustments for sex, very elderly patients had a higher subcortical hematoma prevalence (odds ratio [OR], 2.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39-4.86]. On multivariate analyses, very elderly patients had larger hematoma volumes (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.01-1.75, per 10-mL increase). After adjustments for risk factors and comorbidities, modified Rankin scale scores of 0-2 in very elderly patients occurred less often (OR, .34; 95% CI, .14-.82), and those with scores of 5-6 occurred more often (OR, 3.01; 95% CI, 1.09-8.54). Conclusions: Hematomas were relatively large and often found in the subcortex in very elderly ICH patients. Outcomes of very elderly ICH patients were relatively poor.