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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neuroepidemiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1386403

Characteristics and Direct Causes of Death in Severely Ill Patients Admitted to a Neurology Department

Provisionally accepted
Da Heui Lee Da Heui Lee 1Seok Young Jeong Seok Young Jeong 1Byoung-Soo Shin Byoung-Soo Shin 1Hyun Goo Kang Hyun Goo Kang 2*
  • 1 College of Medicine, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, North Jeolla, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Department of Neurology, Jeonbuk National University Hostpital, Jeonju, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The study aimed to analyze the characteristics of patients admitted to the neurology department of a tertiary hospital who subsequently died, focusing on those with high disease severity. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients who died among those admitted to the neurology department of a regional tertiary hospital from 2013 to 2021. Clinical, radiological, and laboratory results of the included patients were collected, and their primary diagnoses, duration from time of admission to death, and direct causes of death were analyzed. Furthermore, the patients were categorized into subgroups based on sex (male and female), primary diagnosis (ischemic and non-ischemic stroke), and cancer diagnosis for comparative analysis. Of 187 deaths, the primary diagnoses were ischemic stroke (131 cases), seizures (19 cases), encephalitis and encephalopathy (18 cases), and other conditions (19 cases). The direct causes of death included ischemic stroke in 68 patients, sepsis in 33, cerebral hemorrhage in 19, pneumonia in 15, acute kidney injury in nine, status epilepticus in seven, and other causes in 36. Pneumonia, cerebral hemorrhage, acute kidney injury, and status epilepticus were the more prevalent direct causes of death in men, whereas ischemic stroke and sepsis were more prevalent in women. Additionally, sepsis, pneumonia, acute kidney injury, and status epilepticus, as direct causes of death, were significantly higher among patients with a primary diagnosis of non-ischemic stroke than among those with a primary diagnosis of ischemic stroke. Furthermore, there were differences in some pre-existing diseases and laboratory findings when comparing between the cancer group and the non-cancer group. Ischemic stroke was the primary diagnosis and direct cause of death in a high proportion of patients. Other noteworthy direct causes of death were cerebral hemorrhage and infections such as sepsis and pneumonia. Based on these findings, the characteristics and prognoses of patients admitted to neurology departments can be predicted and used for management.

    Keywords: death, Neurology, Stroke, Cause of Death, Hospitalization

    Received: 15 Feb 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lee, Jeong, Shin and Kang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hyun Goo Kang, Department of Neurology, Jeonbuk National University Hostpital, Jeonju, Republic of Korea

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.