Influence of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic on numbers of admitted ischemic stroke patients, on their dia gnostics and therapy
Abstract
The fi rst wave of COVID-19 pandemic has aff ected the lives of all of us in some way. There was an assumption that at the time of the pandemic, there were lower numbers of hospitalized patients, not only with a dia gnosis of ischemic stroke, because of people's fear of getting infected with COVID-19 virus in hospital facilities.
Moreover, there was a concern about the negative impact of the regimen measures on the dia gnostics and treatment of patients with ischemic stroke. We carried out a retrospective analysis of 191 patients admitted to our department with a dia gnosis of ischemic stroke in a 3-month period of the fi rst wave of COVID-19 pandemic from March to May 2020 and in a 3-month period from March to May 2019.
The number of ischemic stroke patients hospitalized at Regional Hospital Liberec during the fi rst wave of COVID-19 pandemic (3-5/ 2020) was slightly higher than during a comparable time a year ago (3-5/ 2019). Regarding the observed times of therapeutic procedures and the clinical outcome of patients with ischemic stroke, there were minimal, statistically non-signifi cant, diff erences.
The fi rst wave of COVID-19 pandemic aff ected neither the numbers of patients with ischemic stroke nor their dia gnostics and therapy at Regional Hospital Liberec.