1. Characteristics of the evaluated stroke identification scales.
| — | CPSS | FAST | LAPSS | MASS | ROSIER | MedPACS | PreHAST | OPSST |
| Eligibility criteria | Exclusion criteria | |||||||
| — | — | — | Age > 45 years History of seizures or epilepsy absent Symptom duration < 24 hours At baseline, patient not wheelchair bound or bedridden Blood glucose 60–400 mg/dL (3.3–22.2 mmol/L) |
Age > 45 years History of seizures or epilepsy absent At baseline, patient not wheelchair bound or bedridden Blood glucose 2.8–22.2 mmol/L |
— | History of seizures or epilepsy absent Symptom duration ≤ 25 hours Blood glucose 60–400 mg/dL (3.3–22.2 mmol/L) |
Age > 18 years Intended for use only in conscious people, i.e. alert or aroused by minor stimulation |
CTAS level 1; or uncorrected airway, breathing or circulatory problem (or both) Symptoms of the stroke have resolved Blood sugar < 4 mmol/L Seizure at onset of symptoms or observed by paramedic GCS < 10 Terminally ill or palliative care patient Could not arrive to a stroke center within 2 hours of a clearly determined time of symptom onset or the time the patients was "last seen in a usual state of health" |
| Screen items | ||||||||
| Facial palsy | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 |
| Gaze preference | — | — | — | — | — | +1 | +2 | — |
| Vision | — | — | — | — | + 1 | — | + 2 | — |
| Speech disturbance | +1 | +1 | — | +1 | +1 | +1 | 0–2 | +1 |
| Hand grip | — | — | +1 | +1 | — | — | — | — |
| Arm drift/weakness | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | 0–2 | +1 |
| Leg drift/weakness | — | — | — | — | +1 | +1 | 0–2 | +1 |
| No seizure at onset | — | — | — | — | –1 | — | — | — |
| Blood glucose > 3 5 mmol/L |
— | — | — | — | –1 | — | — | — |
| Other | — | — | — | — | — | — | Verbal instructions +2 Sensory (pain) 0–2 |
— |
| Score range | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–4 | –2 to 5 | 0–5 | 0–19 | 0–4 |
| Positivity threshold | ≥ 1 | ≥ 1 | ≥ 1 | ≥ 1 | ≥ 1 | ≥ 1 | ≥ 1 | ≥ 1 |
CPSS: Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale; Kothari 1997 and Kothari 1999.
CTAS: Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale.
FAST: Face Arm Speech Time; Kleindorfer 2007.
GCS: Glasgow Coma Scale.
LAPSS: Los Angeles Prehospital Stroke Scale. This refers to the LAPSS criteria published in Kidwell 2000, which differ slightly from an earlier version of the scale published in Kidwell 1998. In LAPSS 2000 an eligibility criterion is considered met even when the answer to the question is unknown (e.g. the person will be considered > 45 years old when this information is not available). In LAPSS 1998 when the answer to an eligibility question is unknown, the criterion is considered unmet and the person is not eligible for assessment with LAPSS; in addition, in the earlier version the symptom duration was 12 (and not 24) hours. Only LAPSS 2000 criteria are presented in the above table as no studies using LAPSS 1998 were included.
MASS: Melbourne Ambulance Stroke Scale; Bray 2005a.
MedPACS: Medic Prehospital Assessment for Code Stroke; Studnek 2013.
OPSST: Ontario Prehospital Stroke Screening Too; Chenkin 2009. The authors point out that "The addition of these exclusion criteria may be helpful for reducing the unnecessary triage of patients with stroke mimics and patients who are ineligible for fibrinolysis" (p. 154).
PreHAST: PreHospital Ambulance Stroke Test. Designed to screen for common stroke symptoms and grade severity, similarly to the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS); simultaneous testing of right and left side for visual field and sensory items; only verbal instructions allowed, so it tests indirectly for sensory (Wernicke's) aphasia, Andsberg 2017.
ROSIER: Recognition of Stroke in the Emergency Room; Nor 2005.