Background and Purpose: Controversy exists as to whether posterior circulation infarction (PCI) has a poorer outcome compared to anterior circulation infarction (ACI). We aimed to investigate whether PCI had different clinical outcomes from ACI in Chinese patients with ischemic stroke. Methods: Data on ischemic stroke patients with ACI or PCI were collected including demographics, risk factors and 1-month, 3-month, and 1-year case fatality and disability (defined as modified Rankin Scale 3–5). Multivariate regression models were used to analyze predictors for death and disability. Results: Of the 1,962 enrolled cases, 433 (22.1%) had PCI. The case fatality of PCI at 1-month, 3-month and 1-year follow-up (FU) were lower than that of ACI (3.93, 5.3 and 9.7% vs. 7.26, 9.3 and 13.7%, p <0.05), and the proportion of disability was also lower in PCI at 3-month FU (19.6 vs. 29.1%, p<0.001) and 1-year FU (6.5 vs. 15.2%, p<0.001). The adjusted hazard ratio of death for PCI was 0.52 at 1 month (95% CI 0.29–0.94) and 0.52 at 3 months (95% CI 0.31–0.85), and the adjusted odds of disability in patients with PCI was 0.53 at 1 year (95% CI 0.35–0.81). Conclusions: In our cohort, patients with PCI have a lower risk of death at 1- and 3-month FU and a lower proportion of disability at 1-year FU, which needs to be verified by future studies.

Keywords:
Stroke, Anterior circulation infarction, Posterior circulation infarction, Case fatality, Disability
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2010
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