Association between estimated pulse wave velocity and the risk of mortality in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage: a retrospective cohort study based on the MIMIC database

The estimated pulse wave velocity (ePWV) is a recently developed, simple and useful tool to measure arterial stiffness and to predict long-term cardiovascular mortality. However, the association of ePWV with mortality risk in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is unclear. Herein, this study aims to assess the potential prediction value of ePWV on short- and long-term mortality of SAH patients.

Data of adult patients with no traumatic SAH were extracted from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC) III and IV database in this retrospective cohort study. Weighted univariate and multivariable Cox regression analyses were used to explore the associations of ePWV levels with 30-day mortality and 1-year mortality in SAH patients. The evaluation indexes were hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). In addition, subgroup analyses of age, the sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, surgery, atrial fibrillation (AF), renal failure (RF), hepatic diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), sepsis, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus (DM) were also performed.

Among 1,481 eligible patients, 339 died within 30 days and 435 died within 1 year. After adjusting for covariates, ePWV ≥ 12.10 was associated with higher risk of both 30-day mortality (HR = 1.77, 95%CI: 1.17–2.67) and 1-year mortality (HR = 1.97, 95%CI: 1.36–2.85), compared to ePWV < 10.12. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves showed that compared to single SOFA score, ePWV combined with SOFA score had a relative superior predictive performance on both 30-day mortality and 1-year mortality, with the area under the curves (AUCs) of 0.740 vs. 0.664 and 0.754 vs. 0.658. This positive relationship between ePWV and mortality risk was also found in age ≥ 65 years old, SOFA score < 2, non-surgery, non-hepatic diseases, non-COPD, non-hypertension, non-DM, and sepsis subgroups.

Baseline ePWV level may have potential prediction value on short- and long-term mortality in SAH patients. However, the application of ePWV in SAH prognosis needs further clarification.