Supplementary file 1_Serial immune-inflammatory recovery trajectories after acute ischemic stroke: associations with early neurological deterioration and 90-day functional outcome in a retrospective cohort.docx

END was defined as an NIHSS increase of ≥2 points within 72 h; the landmark END analysis excluded END within 24 h and tested 0–24 h immune change for END from 24 to 72 h.</p>Results<p>The five LCMM classes comprised 182 low-stable, 223 transient moderate, 161 delayed recovery, 122 persistent high, and 72 extreme persistent high patients. Among 751 patients with 90-day outcome data, the observed rate of mRS 3–6 increased from 21.5 to 30.6%, 44.2, 71.9, and 98.6% across these classes.

After adjustment, persistent high (OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.31–4.61; p = 0.005) and extreme persistent high inflammation (OR 20.24, 95% CI 2.48–165.26; p = 0.005) were associated with mRS 3–6; a bias-reduced sensitivity estimate for the extreme class remained large (OR 13.61, 95% CI 2.34–79.26). Ordinal analysis showed progressively worse mRS for delayed recovery (common OR 2.73), persistent high (4.18), and extreme persistent high (6.72).

The 0–24 h composite immune-change metric was not associated with landmark END (OR 1.12, 95% CI 0.92–1.36; p = 0.265). Adding LCMM-5 to the clinical model increased AUC from 0.828 to 0.841, but did not clearly outperform adding admission NLR/SII.</p>Conclusion<p>Longitudinal classification identified five immune-inflammatory recovery trajectories with a marked gradient in 90-day disability. Persistent-high and extreme persistent-high classes retained independent associations with poor functional outcome.</p>