Prognostic significance of signs and symptoms in hydrocephalus

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Abstract
An analysis of survival, using Cox''s regression model, was performed on 231 patients with hydrocephalus diagnosed before age five years. Age range at follow-up was 21-35 years. The only constant covariate of prognostic importance was asphyxia with a factor of excess mortality of 1.70. Important time-dependent covariates were: a head circumference increasingly above the 97th percentile and/or a radiological diagnosis of hydrocephalus, general seizures, a short lapse of time since diagnosis, and the sign of downward-displaced eyes. The excess mortality of patients with the sign of downward-displaced eyes could not be expressed by a factor of excess mortality, because this was age-dependent. For the other time dependent covariates the factors of excess mortality were 2.5-6.3. Complications during pregnancy and at birth, sex, birth weight, and surgical treatment of those days were not significant for survival. Examples of survival functions with different values for the time-dependent covariates are given.