Patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) requiring mechanical ventilation have distinctive outcome from less severe patients. We aimed to precise the long-term outcome of these patients with critical aSAH and to identify factors associated with poor outcome.

We conducted a retrospective study in a neuro-ICU of a university hospital in France. Patients with aSAH requiring mechanical ventilation hospitalized from 2010 to 2015 were included. At least one year after the initial bleeding, survival and degree of disability were measured using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) via  phone interviews. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to define independent factors associated with poor outcome defined as mRS>2.

Among aSAH patients requiring assisted ventilation, two-thirds of them had survived at one year, and one-third had a good long-term outcome. Attention should be paid to DCI, which is a treatable independent factor associated with poor outcome.

An analytic retrospective study was conducted in an academic center in Montpellier, France. This observational study was performed according to the STROBE guidelines.