Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on ischemic stroke admissions and in-hospital mortality in North-West Spain
H. Tejada Meza, Álvaro Lambea‐Gil, A. Sancho Saldaña, Maite Martínez-Zabaleta, Patricia de la Riva, Elena López-Cancio Martínez, M. Castañón Apilánez, M. Herrera Isasi, Juan Marta-Enguita, Mercedes de Lera Alfonso, Juan F. Arenillas, Jon Segurola Olaizola, Juan José Timiraos Fernández, Joaquín Sánchez, Mar Castellanos-Rodrigo, Alexia Roel, Ignacio Casado Menéndez, Mar Freijo, Alain Luna Rodríguez, Enrique Palacio Portilla, Yésica López, Emilio Rodríguez‐Castro, Susana Arias-Rivas, Javier Tejada García, Iria Beltrán Rodríguez, Francisco José Julián-Villaverde, Maria Pilar Moreno García, J.M. Trejo-Gabriel-Galán, Ana Echavarría Íñiguez, C. Tejero Juste, Cristina Pérez Lázaro, J. Marta Moreno, on behalf of the NORDICTUS Investigators
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.