Stroke Care Pathway ensures high-quality stroke management in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sci Rep
; 13(1): 5587, 2023 04 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2271412
ABSTRACT
The aim of our study was to assess whether a well-established federal state-wide Stroke Care Pathway delivering high quality stroke care can cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures to contain the virus spread. The retrospective analysis is based on a prospective, quality-controlled, population-based registry of all stroke patients in the Tyrol, a federal state of Austria and one of the early hot-spots of COVID-19 in Europe. Patient characteristics, pre-hospital management, intra-hospital management and post-hospital were analysed. All residents of the Tyrol suffering ischemic stroke in 2020 (n = 1160) and four pre-COVID-19 years (n = 4321) were evaluated. In 2020, the annual number of stroke patients was the highest in this population-based registry. When local hospitals were overwhelmed with SARS-CoV-2-patients, stroke subjects were temporarily allocated to the comprehensive stroke centre. Stroke severity, quality metrics of stroke management, serious complications, and post-stroke mortality did not differ between 2020 and the four comparator years. Notably, iv. thrombolysis-rate was similar (19.9% versus 17.4%, P = 0.25) and endovascular stroke treatment even better (5.9% versus 3.9%, P = 0.003) but resources for in-patient rehabilitation were limited (25.8% versus 29.8%, P = 0.009). Concluding, a well-established Stroke Care Pathway was able to maintain high-quality acute stroke care even when challenged by a global pandemic.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Stroke
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41598-023-32586-5
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