How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected patients with stroke? An emergency department perspective

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound impact on healthcare systems worldwide. The need to manage the pandemic has resulted in significant changes to the way that emergency care is provided. This study aimed to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the duration between the onset of initial symptoms and admission to the emergency department (ED), as well as the length of stay (LOS) of stroke patients in the ED. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of medical records from the ED database. The study involved 566 patients. The following parameters were defined as primary outcomes: length of stay in the ED and time between onset of the symptoms and admission to the ED. RESULTS: The results of our study showed that during the pandemic patients met the time criteria for thrombolysis therapy (40.72% vs 55.80%, p = 0.00026) and patients spent more time in ED [113 (66–187) vs 85 (35–157) min, p = 0.000026]. CONCLUSIONS: We found a significant increase in the time between onset of first stroke symptoms and admission to the ED and prolonged LOS in ED during the COVID pandemic in comparison to the months before the COVID-19 outbreak