Background and purpose: We determined the association between hospital factors, performance on transient ischemic attack (TIA) process measures, and 90-day ischemic stroke incidence.
Methods: Longitudinal analysis of retrospectively obtained data on 9168 veterans ≥18 years with TIA presenting to the emergency department or inpatient unit at 69 Veterans Affairs hospitals with ≥10 eligible patients per year in fiscal years 2015 to 2018. Process measures were high/moderate potency statin within 7 days of discharge, antithrombotic by day 2, and hypertension control (<140/90 mm Hg) at 90 days. The outcome was 90-day stroke incidence.
Results: During the 4-year study period, hospitals significantly increased statin use (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] per 1-year increase, 1.24 [95% CI, 1.17–1.32]; P<0.001), whereas neither hypertension control (P=0.44) nor antithrombotic use (P=0.82) improved over time. Hospitals that admitted a higher proportion of TIA patients versus emergency department discharge had significantly greater use of statins (aOR per 10-percentage point increase in the proportion of TIA patients admitted, 1.09 [1.03–1.16]; P=0.003) and antithrombotics (aOR per 10-percentage point increase in TIA patients admitted, 1.14 [1.06–1.23]; P<0.001). Hospitals with higher emergency physician staffing and lower TIA patient volume had greater use of antithrombotics (aOR per 1 full-time physician increase, 1.05 [1.01–1.08]; P=0.008 and aOR per 10-patient decrease in volume, 1.09 [1.01–1.16]; P=0.02). Higher emergency physician staffing was associated with lower 90-day stroke incidence (aOR per 1 full-time physician increase, 0.96 [0.92–0.99]; P=0.02) but other hospital factors were not.
Conclusions: Hospitals admitting higher percentages of TIA patients and having higher emergency physician staffing have greater performance on select guideline-concordant process measures for TIA. Higher emergency physician staffing was associated with improved outcomes 90 days after TIA.
Keywords: hospitalization; ischemic attack, transient; ischemic stroke; odds ratio; physicians.