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Observational Study
. 2020 Oct;15(7):755-762.
doi: 10.1177/1747493020938301. Epub 2020 Jun 26.

Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on ischemic stroke admissions and in-hospital mortality in North-West Spain

Herbert Tejada Meza  1   2   3 , Álvaro Lambea Gil  1   3 , Agustín Sancho Saldaña  1   3 , Maite Martínez-Zabaleta  4 , Patricia de la Riva Juez  4 , Elena López-Cancio Martínez  5 , María Castañón Apilánez  5 , María Herrera Isasi  6 , Juan Marta Enguita  6 , Mercedes de Lera Alfonso  7 , Juan F Arenillas  7   8 , Jon Segurola Olaizola  9 , Juan José Timiraos Fernández  9 , Joaquín Sánchez  10 , Mar Castellanos-Rodrigo  11 , Alexia Roel  11 , Ignacio Casado Menéndez  12 , Mar Freijo  13 , Alain Luna Rodriguez  13 , Enrique Palacio Portilla  14 , Yésica Jiménez López  14 , Emilio Rodríguez Castro  15 , Susana Arias Rivas  15 , Javier Tejada García  16 , Iria Beltrán Rodríguez  16 , Francisco Julián-Villaverde  17 , Maria Pilar Moreno García  17 , José María Trejo-Gabriel-Galán  18 , Ana Echavarría Iñiguez  18 , Carlos Tejero Juste  19 , Cristina Pérez Lázaro  19 , Javier Marta Moreno  1   3 , On Behalf Of The Nordictus Investigators
Affiliations
Observational Study

Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on ischemic stroke admissions and in-hospital mortality in North-West Spain

Herbert Tejada Meza et al. Int J Stroke. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Background and purpose: Spain has been one of the countries heavily stricken by COVID-19. But this epidemic has not affected all regions equally. We analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital stroke admissions and in-hospital mortality in tertiary referral hospitals from North-West Spain.

Methods: Spanish multicenter retrospective observational study based on data from tertiary hospitals of the NORDICTUS network. We recorded the number of patients admitted for ischemic stroke between 30 December 2019 and 3 May 2020, the number of IVT and EVT procedures, and in-hospital mortality.

Results: In the study period, 2737 patients were admitted with ischemic stroke. There was a decrease in the weekly mean admitted patients during the pandemic (124 vs. 173, p<0.001). In-hospital mortality of stroke patients increased significantly (9.9% vs. 6.5%, p = 0.003), but there were no differences in the proportion of IVT (17.3% vs. 16.1%, p = 0.405) or EVT (22% vs. 23%, p = 0.504).

Conclusion: We found a decrease in the number of ischemic stroke admissions and an increase in in-hospital mortality during the COVID-19 epidemic in this large study from North-West Spain. There were regional changes within the network, not fully explained by the severity of the pandemic in different regions.

Keywords: COVID-19; Spain; Stroke; ischemic stroke; mortality; stroke care.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Map of Spain. Autonomous communities being part of NORDICTUS network are colored in gray. Red circles represent the percentage of seroprevalence in each region.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Case numbers pre- and during COVID-19 pandemic in NORDICTUS network regions, from 30 December 2019 (W1) to 3 May 2020 (W18).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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