Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in elderly patients: long-term outcome and prognostic factors in an interdisciplinary treatment approach

The number of elderly patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is increasing with the aging of the population. However, management recommendations based on long-term outcome data and analyses of prognostic factors are scarce. Our study focused exclusively on elderly patients aged ≥60 years at the onset of SAH. Patients were selected from an in-house database and compared in cohorts of age 60–69, 70–79, and ≥80, regarding pre-existing medical conditions, treatment, clinical course including complications, and outcome. A multivariate analysis was conducted to identify prognostic factors for death and disability. A total of 256 patients (138 aged 60–69, 93 aged 70–79, 25 aged ≥80) with putative aneurysmal SAH who had been admitted to our hospital between January 1, 1996 and June 30, 2007 were extracted. The median follow-up of our total cohort was 35.5 months (range <1–154 months). Endovascular or conservative aneurysm treatment was applied more often with increasing age (p < 0.006). The 1-year survival rate was 78, 65, and 38 % in the three age groups, respectively (p = 0.0002); most of the patients died from the initial hemorrhage or from medical complications. Patients aged <70 with an initial World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) score of I–III showed the best clinical recovery. WFNS score, age, and clipping/coiling were extracted as prognostic factors from the Cox model. Elderly patients who get admitted with a good WFNS score (I–III) seem to benefit from aggressive treatment whereas caution seems to be warranted particularly in patients ≥70 years of age who get admitted in a WFNS score of IV and V because of their limited short- and long-term prognosis.