International Prevalence and Mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 in Childhood Arterial Ischemic Stroke During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Stroke, Ahead of Print. BACKGROUND:Data from the early pandemic revealed that 0.62% of children hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had an acute arterial ischemic stroke (AIS). In a larger cohort from June 2020 to December 2020, we sought to determine whether our initial point estimate was stable as the pandemic continued and to understand radiographic and laboratory data that may clarify mechanisms of pediatric AIS in the setting of SARS-CoV-2.METHODS:We surveyed international sites with pediatric stroke expertise to determine numbers of hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients

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Aprile 2022

Long-Term Secondary Prevention: Management of Blood Pressure After a Transient Ischemic Attack or Stroke

Stroke, Ahead of Print. Reducing blood pressure (BP) is a highly effective strategy for long-term stroke prevention. Despite overwhelmingly clear evidence from randomized trials that antihypertensive therapy substantially reduces the risk of stroke in primary prevention, uncertainty still surrounds the issue of BP lowering after cerebrovascular events, and the risk of recurrent stroke, coronary events, and vascular death remains significant. Important questions in a secondary prevention setting include should everyone be treated regardless of their poststroke BP, how soon after a stroke should BP-lowering treatment be commenced, how intensively should BP be lowered, what drugs are best, and how should long-term BP control be optimized and monitored. We review the evidence on BP control after a transient ischemic attack or stroke to address these unanswered questions and draw attention to some recent developments that hold promise to improve management of BP in current practice.

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Marzo 2022

Maintaining Stroke Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries: World Stroke Organization Position Statement Endorsed by American Stroke Association and American Heart Association

Stroke, Volume 53, Issue 3, Page 1043-1050, March 1, 2022. 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.

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Febbraio 2022

Sex Differences in Short-term and Long-term Outcomes among Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients in China

Stroke, Ahead of Print. Background:Sex differences in stroke outcomes are crucial to secondary prevention but previous reports showed inconsistent results. We aimed to explore the sex differences in stroke outcomes in the Third China National Stroke Registry, a prospective multi-center registry study.Methods:Among the 15166 patients enrolled between 2015 and 2018, 9038 patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) were included. The primary outcomes were stroke recurrence, mortality, and unfavorable functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] > 2) at 3, 6, and 12 months. Cox regression model was used for stroke recurrence and mortality and logistic regression was used for the unfavorable functional outcome, and adjusted as follows: (1) Model 1: without adjustment; (2) Model 2: adjusted for potential risk factors, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) at admission, pre-stroke mRS, tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) treatment, TOAST classification, and onset-to-door time; (3) Model 3: adjusted for covariates from model 2 in addition to blood pressure and blood serum covariates. Multiple imputation was used for missing values, and sensitivity analyses were conducted to describe sex differences by age groups.Results:One-third (2802/9038) of the patients were women. Women were significantly older than men (64.78±10.84 vs. 61.26±11.42, p

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Febbraio 2022

Disparities in Internet Use Among US Stroke Survivors: Implications for Telerehabilitation During COVID-19 and Beyond

Stroke, Ahead of Print. Despite evidence-based guidelines,1stroke rehabilitation remains underutilized, particularly among women and minorities.2Telerehabilitation is a promising alternative to traditional in-person rehabilitation and offers a novel strategy to overcome access barriers,3which intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic.4A broadband connection is a prerequisite for its wide adoption but its availability varies across the United States (https://broadbandnow.com/national-broadband-map). Little is known about demographic and geographic variation in internet use among stroke survivors. In this study, we sought to compare internet use in a nationally representative sample of individuals with and without stroke.

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Febbraio 2022

Abstract WP46: Patterns Of Emergency Medical Transport For Suspected Acute Stroke, Acute Myocardial Infarction, And Other Diagnoses During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Analysis Of A Large Hospital-based Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency

Stroke, Volume 53, Issue Suppl_1, Page AWP46-AWP46, February 1, 2022. Introduction:During the initial peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many centers globally reported a significant decrease in volumes of emergencies including acute stroke (AS) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). While the reason for this remains unknown, pandemic-driven anxiety among patients may have resulted in unwarranted refusals to transport when deemed necessary by EMS (Emergency Medical Services) providers. We sought to study the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the patterns of Emergency Medical transport (EMTr) and patient refusals to transport when serious medical conditions were suspected by EMS personnel.Methods:In this retrospective, observational study of Grady Health System’s EMS, we compared the rates of EMTr and refusals for adult patients with suspected diagnoses of AS, AMI, and other medical conditions in the first year of the pandemic (Y1, Mar 2020-Feb 2021) with the corresponding period in the year prior (Y0). We also compared the temporal trends for these variables across the different pandemic waves (1st, Mar-May 2020; 2nd, Jun-Aug 2020; 3rd, Sep 2020-Feb 2021) with the corresponding periods in the year before.Results:Grady EMS responded to 207,888 calls in Y1 compared to 201,968 in Y0. The overall rate of refusals for all diagnoses was 15.5% in Y1 vs 14.1% in Y0, that for AS was 2.25% in Y1 vs 1.77% in Y0 and 7.5% in Y1 vs 5.67% in Y0 for AMI (Figure).Conclusion:There were more refusals in the first two waves of the pandemic. While refusals were higher for AS and AMI, this was not statistically significant. Our study provides valuable insight into the behavioral patterns of patients seeking emergency care during the pandemic and emphasizes a need for public education and more research.

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Febbraio 2022

Abstract TP71: Characteristics And Demographics Of Patients Using Emergency Medical Services For Suspected Acute Stroke And Its Impact On Long-term Outcomes In A Multi Ethnic Population

Stroke, Volume 53, Issue Suppl_1, Page ATP71-ATP71, February 1, 2022. Introduction:Acute ischemic stroke (IS) patients who receive IV thrombolysis are more likely to have good long-term prognosis. Unfortunately, more than two-third of IS patients present outside the therapeutic window. The use of emergency medical services (EMS) can reduce pre-hospital delay and increase likelihood of treatment with t-PA. We aim to determine the characteristic variations amongst the suspected acute stroke patients using EMS.Methods:In this retrospective observational study, all suspected acute stroke patients admitted to Hamad General Hospital from April 30, 2014 to September 15, 2020 were included. We evaluated demographics, clinical features, impact on treatment and associated factors in EMS versus non-EMS group.Results:During the study period, 11892 patients presented as suspected acute stroke. Of these, 65.1% used EMS (EMS-group). Mean age in EMS group was 53.4+14.1 versus 52.6+14.0 in non-EMS group (p = 0.003). Male to female ratio in both groups was 3:1. The proportion of patients who used EMS were higher in the Asian (66.8%), African (66.8%) and Caucasian (66.6%) population as compared to Arabs (61.9%). EMS use in Qatari population (59.2%) was relatively low. Intracerebral hemorrhage patients (82.4%) had a significantly higher EMS use followed by IS (65.7%) and cerebral venous thrombosis (64.7%); p

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Febbraio 2022