Effects of a Province-wide Triaging System for TIA: The ASPIRE Intervention.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Urgent transient ischemic attack (TIA) management to reduce stroke recurrence is challenging, particularly in rural and remote areas. In Alberta, Canada, despite an organized stroke system, data from 1999 to 2000 suggested that stroke recurrence after TIA was as high as 9.5% at 90 days. Our objective was to determine whether a multifaceted population-based intervention resulted in a reduction in recurrent stroke after TIA. METHODS: In this quasi-experimental health services research intervention study, we implemented a TIA management algorithm across the entire province, centered around a 24-hour physician's TIA hotline and public and health provider education on TIA. From administrative databases, we linked emergency department discharge abstracts to hospital discharge abstracts to identify incident TIAs and recurrent strokes at 90 days across a single payer system with validation of recurrent stroke events. The primary outcome was recurrent stroke; with a secondary composite outcome of recurrent stroke, acute coronary syndrome, and all-cause death. We used an interrupted time series regression analysis of age-adjusted and sex-adjusted stroke recurrence rates after TIA, incorporating a 2-year preimplementation period (2007-2009), a 15-month implementation period, and a 2-year postimplementation period (2010-2012). Logistic regression was used to examine outcomes that did not fit the time series model. RESULTS: We assessed 6,715 patients preimplementation and 6,956 patients postimplementation. The 90-day stroke recurrence rate in the pre-Alberta Stroke Prevention in TIA and mild Strokes (ASPIRE) period was 4.5% compared with 5.3% during the post-ASPIRE period. There was neither a step change (estimate 0.38; p = 0.65) nor slope change (parameter estimate 0.30; p = 0.12) in recurrent stroke rates associated with the ASPIRE intervention implementation period. Adjusted all-cause mortality (odds ratio 0.71, 95% CI 0.56-0.89) was significantly lower after the ASPIRE intervention. DISCUSSION: The ASPIRE TIA triaging and management interventions did not further reduce stroke recurrence in the context of an organized stroke system. The apparent lower mortality postintervention may be related to improved surveillance after events identified as TIAs, but secular trends cannot be excluded. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class III evidence that a standardized population-wide algorithmic triage system for patients with TIA did not reduce recurrent stroke rate.

Prevalence and predictors of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation on Holter monitor in patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Our aims were to quantify the yield of Holter monitor for detection of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) in patients with stroke and TIA, and to determine potential predictors of PAF to allow more focused testing. METHODS: We reviewed records of 1128 consecutive patients attending a university stroke clinic from September 2005 to September 2006 and identified 426 patients with definite TIA or stroke. We abstracted clinical, cardiac imaging, and neuroimaging data. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine independent predictors of PAF on Holter monitor. RESULTS: Overall, 413 of 426 patients (65 ± 15 years; male, 49.8%) with a definite TIA (53%) or stroke (47%) underwent Holter monitoring for a mean of 22.6 hours. PAF occurred in 39 patients (9.2%) all older than age 55 years. PAF lasting > 30 seconds was evident in 11 patients (2.5%). The other 28 patients had PAF < 30 seconds (6.5%). In multivariate analyses, number of acute (odds ratio [OR], 1.7 for each 1 lesion increase; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-2.6; P = 0.0047) and chronic (OR, 1.6 for each 1 lesion increase; 95% CI, 1.2-2.3; P = 0.0001) infarcts on brain CT, number of chronic infarcts on MRI (OR, 3.0 for each 1 lesion increase; 95% CI, 1.7-5.1; P < 0.0001), and any acute cortical infarct on imaging (OR, 5.8; 95% CI, 1.9-17.8; P = 0.0023) were associated with PAF. CONCLUSIONS: PAF is present in 9.2% of patients with definite stroke or TIA. Age older than 55 years and presence of acute or chronic brain infarcts on neuroimaging are strongly associated with PAF.

Secondary stroke prevention: practice patterns in a tertiary care stroke service.

BACKGROUND: Stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) have a high personal and financial cost to society and prevention is critical. Outside of registries in Ontario, there has been little effort to determine whether care gaps exist for secondary preventative care within Canada. The objective of this study was to evaluate inpatient medical team compliance to four secondary stroke prevention interventions: antithrombotic therapy, antihypertensive therapy, lipid lowering therapy and smoking cessation. METHODS: Adults admitted to the University of Alberta Hospital stroke service with a diagnosis of stroke or TIA between August 1st, 2005 and July 31st, 2006 were identified using International Classification of Diseases (10th Revision) codes. Two hundred charts were randomly selected for retrospective review. Compliance, defined as achievement of therapeutic targets or appropriate therapy for subtherapeutic targets, was assessed. RESULTS: Among 190 eligible patients (mean age 67 years, 55% male), 147 (77.4%) had a non-cardioembolic cerebral event while 43 (22.6%) had a cardioembolic cerebral event. We found high compliance for antithrombotic (92% [174/190]) and antihypertensive (95% [136/143]) agents, but suboptimal compliance for lipid lowering agents (68% [107/158]) and smoking cessation (27% [17/64]). CONCLUSIONS: There is room for improvement in early risk factor management for secondary prevention, even in specialized stroke centres. To optimize stroke preventative care, more interdisciplinary collaboration, investigation of reasons for suboptimal care, development of strategies to minimize care gaps and ongoing stroke care audits for quality improvement are needed.