Patients' and bystanders' awareness of stroke and pre-hospital delay after stroke onset: perspectives for thrombolysis in West Pomerania Province, Poland.
OBJECTIVE
Thrombolysis is a time-dependent therapy. It is therefore very important how fast stroke patients can reach hospital. The present study was designed to assess which proportion of patients with stroke (from the population of Szczecin, the capital of West Pomerania Province, Poland) reaches hospital within the recommended time from the thrombolytic therapy point of view. The purpose of our study was also to elucidate which factors can influence the time before the ambulance service is called.


METHODS
The study involved 1,015 patients with stroke admitted to the Emergency Department of the University Hospital, Szczecin.


RESULTS
235 patients (23.1%) were admitted to the hospital within the appropriate period for thrombolytic therapy. Hospital arrival time was significantly earlier in older patients and in patients with severer neurological deficits. We also observed a tendency for faster hospitalization of women, the highly educated, and patients regularly using antiplatelet drugs for cardiovascular disease prevention.


CONCLUSIONS
The percentage of stroke patients hospitalized within 2 h after stroke onset should be increased. The most susceptible subpopulations in our country seem to be older patients, the highly educated and patients regularly using antiplatelet drugs for cardiovascular disease prevention.
Nowacki
Przemysław
P
Department of Neurology, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
Nowik
Marta
M
Bajer-Czajkowska
Anna
A
Porebska
Agata
A
Zywica
Adrian
A
Nocoń
Danuta
D
Drechsler
Hanna
H
Safranow
Krzysztof
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy; D013997:Time Factors
D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors