Stroke Care Pathway ensures high-quality stroke management in the COVID-19 pandemic

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,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2023-04, Vol.13 (1), p.5587-5587, Article 5587
Main Authors: Mayer-Suess, Lukas, ter Telgte, Annemieke, Praxmarer, Silvia, Willeit, Johann, Wöll, Ewald, Geley, Theresa, Rinner, Heinrich, Knoflach, Michael, Kiechl, Stefan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Cardiovascular system
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Critical Pathways
Disease hot spots
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Ischemia
multidisciplinary
Pandemics
Patients
Prospective Studies
Rehabilitation
Retrospective Studies
SARS-CoV-2
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Stroke
Stroke - epidemiology
Thrombolysis
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Summary: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.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-32586-5