Comparing withdrawal and non-withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment among patients who died from stroke

Figures & data

Table 1 Percentiles and days since withdrawing life-sustaining treatment to death in patients with stroke

Percentiles	Number of days
Smallest	1
10%	1
25%	2
Median	4
75%	7
90%	9
Largest	11

Figure 1 Kaplan–Meier curves showing days from withdrawing life-sustaining treatment to death in 50 patients with severe cerebral infarction or hemorrhagic stroke (P=0.20).

Table 2 Characteristics of patients who died in hospital after withdrawal or non-withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment

	Withdrawal N=50 (%)	No withdrawal N=134 (%)	P
Male	18 (36)	64 (48)	0.15
Female	32 (64)	70 (52)	–
Age (SD)	83 (9)	78 (13)	0.03
NIHSS score on admission (SD)	22 (8)	20 (8)	0.09
Days to death (SD)	10 (7)	6 (8)	0.01
Ischemic stroke	34 (68)	84 (63)	0.50
Hemorrhagic stroke	16 (32)	50 (37)	–
Glucose (SD)	7.3 (2.1)	8.5 (3.1)	0.01
Diabetes mellitus	7 (14)	25 (19)	0.45
C-reactive protein	24 (44)	28 (54)	0.68
Hypertension	22 (44)	65 (49)	0.59
Atrial fibrillation	20 (40)	57 (43)	0.76

Abbreviations: NIHSS, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale; SD, standard deviation.