Table 2.
Stroke characteristics during the study periods (March-May 2019 and March-May 2020).
| Seasonal Pre-COVID-19 period | COVID-19 period | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All patients (n = 2252) | Mar – May 2019 (n = 1319) | Mar – May 2020 (n = 933) | p-value | |
| NIHSS on admission, median (IQR) | 6 (2−15) | 6 (2−14) | 7 (2−17) | 0.03 |
| NIHSS by severity | 0.04 | |||
| NIHSS 0−7, no. (%) | 1048/1905 (55.0 %) | 636/1121 (56.7 %) | 412/784 (52.6 %) | |
| NIHSS 8−14, no. (%) | 349/1905 (18.3 %) | 210/1121 (18.7 %) | 139/784 (17.7 %) | |
| NIHSS > 14, no. (%) | 508/1905 (26.7 %) | 275/1121 (24.5 %) | 233/784 (29.7 %) | |
| LVO, no. (%) | 401 (17.8 %) | 218 (16.5 %) | 183 (19.6 %) | 0.06 |
| Stroke etiology, no. (%) | <0.01 | |||
| Cardioembolism | 691 (30.7 %) | 447 (33.9 %) | 244 (26.2 %) | |
| Large vessel disease | 428 (19.0 %) | 223 (16.9 %) | 205 (22.0 %) | |
| Cervical atherosclerotic disease | 16 (0.7 %) | 0 (0 %) | 16 (1.7 %) | |
| Intracranial atherosclerotic disease | 22 (1.0 %) | 0 (0 %) | 22 (2.4 %) | |
| Large vessel disease – Unspecified | 390 (17.3 %) | 223 (18.1 %) | 167 (17.9 %) | |
| Small vessel disease | 231 (10.3 %) | 116 (9.4 %) | 115 (12.3 %) | |
| Cryptogenic | 597 (26.5 %) | 376 (28.5 %) | 220 (23.6 %) | |
| Cryptogenic - Undetermined | 233 (10.4 %) | 144 (11.7 %) | 89 (9.7 %) | |
| Cryptogenic – Multiple possible | 153 (6.8 %) | 116 (8.8 %) | 37 (4.0 %) | |
| Cryptogenic – Unspecified | 211 (9.3 %) | 116 (8.8 %) | 94 (10.1 %) | |
| Other etiology | 156 (6.9 %) | 67 (5.5 %) | 89 (9.5 %) | |
| Unknown | 150 (6.7 %) | 90 (6.8 %) | 60 (6.4 %) | |
| Discharge disposition, no. (%) | <0.01 | |||
| Home/Against medical advice | 1049/2232 (47.0 %) | 589/1319 (44.7 %) | 460/895 (51.4 %) | |
| Other healthcare facility | 908/2232 (40.7 %) | 577/1319 (43.8 %) | 331/913 (36.3 %) | |
| Acute rehabilitation facility | 522/2232 (23.4 %) | 348/1319 (26.4 %) | 174/913 (19.1 %) | |
| Skilled nursing facility | 221/2232 (9.9 %) | 154/1319 (11.7 %) | 67/913 (7.3 %) | |
| Long-term acute care facility | 28/2232 (1.3 %) | 17/1319 (1.3 %) | 11/913 (1.2 %) | |
| Other/unspecified health care facility | 130/2232 (5.8 %) | 53/1319 (4.0 %) | 77/913 (8.4 %) | |
| Hospice | 108/2232 (4.8 %) | 64/1319 (4.9 %) | 44/913 (4.8 %) | |
| Expired | 174/2232 (7.8 %) | 94/1319 (7.1 %) | 80/913 (8.8 %) | |
| Favorable discharge disposition*, no. (%) | 1571/2232 (70.4 %) | 937/1319 (71.0 %) | 634/913 (69.4 %) | 0.42 |
| Modified Rankin Scale at discharge, median (IQR) | 4 [2,3,4,5] (n = 995) | 4 [2,3,4] (n = 664) | 4 [2,3,4,5] (n = 331) | 0.02 |
IQR: Interquartile ranges; NIHSS: National Institute of Health Stroke Scale; LVO: Large vessel occlusion.
12-weeks epochs include; COVID-19 period: 03/01/2020−05/31/2020 and seasonal pre-COVID-19 period: 03/01/2019−05/31/2019.
*
Favorable discharge disposition defined as discharge to home or acute rehabilitation facility.