ABSTRACT
For more than a year, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had a devastating effect on global health. High-, low, and middle-income countries are struggling to cope with the spread of newer mutant strains of the virus. Delivery of acute stroke care remains a priority despite the pandemic. In order to maintain the time-dependent processes required to optimize delivery of intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular therapy, most countries have reorganized infrastructure to optimize human resources and critical services. Low-and-middle income countries (LMIC) have strained medical resources at baseline and often face challenges in the delivery of stroke systems of care (SSOC). This position statement aims to produce pragmatic recommendations on methods to preserve the existing SSOC during COVID-19 in LMIC and propose best stroke practices that may be low cost but high impact and commonly shared across the world.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , Developing Countries , Global Health , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2 , Stroke , American Heart Association , COVID-19/therapy , Humans , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Stroke/epidemiology , Stroke/therapy , United States/epidemiologySubject(s)
Ad26COVS1/adverse effects , ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/adverse effects , Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial/chemically induced , Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial/drug therapy , Thrombocytopenia/chemically induced , Thrombocytopenia/drug therapy , Anticoagulants/administration & dosage , Disease Management , Humans , Immunoglobulins, Intravenous/administration & dosage , Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial/diagnostic imaging , Thrombocytopenia/diagnostic imaging , Vaccines/adverse effectsABSTRACT
For more than a year, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had a devastating effect on global health. High-, low-, and middle-income countries are struggling to cope with the spread of newer mutant strains of the virus. Delivery of acute stroke care remains a priority despite the pandemic. In order to maintain the time-dependent processes required to optimize delivery of intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular therapy, most countries have reorganized infrastructure to optimize human resources and critical services. Low-and-middle income countries (LMIC) have strained medical resources at baseline and often face challenges in the delivery of stroke systems of care (SSOC). This position statement aims to produce pragmatic recommendations on methods to preserve the existing SSOC during COVID-19 in LMIC and propose best stroke practices that may be low cost but high impact and commonly shared across the world.