Background: Dehydration is associated with a higher risk of poor outcome and venous thromboembolism in acute ischemic stroke patients. However, the relationship between dehydration and prognosis in patients with cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) has not yet been investigated.
Methods: Consecutive CVT patients at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were retrospectively identified from November 2011 through January 2017. Dehydration was evaluated by blood urea/creatinine (U/Cr) ratio > 80. Poor functional outcome was defined as modified Rankin Scale (mRS) of 3-6. Factors such as age, sex, coma, intracerebral hemorrhage, and straight sinus and/or deep CVT involved were adjusted to assess the relationship between dehydration, and prognosis at discharge and long-term follow-up in CVT patients.
Results: A total of 220 CVT patients were included, and 85 patients (38.64%) were dehydrated. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that patients with dehydration had a higher risk of mRS of 3-6 at discharge (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.629, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.526-8.633, P = 0.004) and long-term outcome (adjusted OR 3.831, 95% CI 1.597-9.190, P = 0.003). Subgroup analysis stratified by potential factors that might be associated with dehydration, such as infection, vomiting, pregnancy, and/or postpartum, showed similar results. Multivariate Cox regression analysis further demonstrated that dehydration was associated with higher mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 2.301, 95% CI 1.025-5.166, P = 0.043).
Conclusions: The present findings indicate that dehydration is an independent predictor for short-term and long-term unfavorable functional outcome in patients with CVT.
Keywords: Blood urea/creatinine ratio; Cerebral venous thrombosis; Dehydration; Mortality; Prognosis; Risk factors.