Effects of SSRI exposure on hemorrhagic complications and outcome following thrombolysis in ischemic stroke

Background Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) may interfere with platelet function, and pre-stroke SSRI treatment has been associated with increased hematoma volumes and mortality in hemorrhagic stroke patients. The effects of SSRI on the risk of hemorrhagic complications after thrombolysis in ischemic stroke patients are unclear. Aims To examine the effects of pre-stroke SSRI exposure on bleeding complications, functional outcome, and mortality following thrombolysis in ischemic stroke. Methods Data including standard demographic and clinical variables as well as baseline and follow-up stroke severity (measured by National Institutes of Health Stroke Score), functional outcome (measured by modified Rankin Scale) at 3 months, and mortality at 7 and 90 days were extracted from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive. Multivariable binary logistic regression was used for statistical analyses. Results Out of 1114 ischemic stroke patients treated with recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator, 135 (12.1%) had previous SSRI exposure. Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage occurred in 30 (2.7%) patients. Of those, 2 (1.5%, n = 135) were in the SSRI pretreatment group and 28 (2.9%, n = 979) were SSRI naive patients. Pre-stroke SSRI exposure in thrombolysed patients showed association with neither bleeding complications ( P = .58) nor functional outcome ( P = .38) nor mortality ( P = .65). Conclusions Results from this large retrospective ad hoc database cohort study indicate that pre-stroke SSRI exposure in ischemic stroke patients who receive thrombolytic treatment is not associated with bleeding complications, functional outcome, or mortality.