Treatment With Tissue Plasminogen Activator and Inpatient Mortality Rates for Patients With Ischemic Stroke Treated in Community Hospitals

Abstract

Background and Purpose— Most analyses of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) use for acute stroke in routine practice have been limited by sample size and generally restricted to patients treated in large academic medical facilities. In the present study, we sought to estimate among community hospitals the use of IV tPA and to identify factors associated with the use of IV tPA and inpatient mortality. Methods— We evaluated a retrospective cohort of 23 058 patients with ischemic stroke from 137 community hospitals. Results— Three hundred sixty-two (1.6%) patients were treated with IV tPA, and 9.9% of those patients died during the hospitalization period. In 35.0% of the hospitals, no patients were treated with IV tPA, whereas 14.6% of hospitals treated ≈3.0% with IV tPA. After control for multiple factors, younger patients, more severely ill patients (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.36 to 3.01), and patients treated in rural hospitals (OR 1.80, 95% CI 0.99 to 3.26) were more likely to receive IV tPA, where...