title: Patient-related features associated with a delay in seeking care after stroke.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Different factors may weight on time from stroke onset to hospital arrival, and patients' alert certainly contributes to it. We sought to identify clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with a delayed alert and to delineate the profile of the potential latecomer in Catalonia (Spain).
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from the Stroke Code (SC) registry that prospectively recruited consecutive patients with acute stroke, in whom SC was activated (SCA) or not (SCNA), admitted to all Catalan hospitals. Additionally, SCNA patients underwent a structured interview to explore additional beliefs and attitudes related to a delayed alert. We applied a 6-h cut-off to define alert delay according to the time limit for SC activation in Catalonia. We determined independent predictors of delay amongst clinical and sociodemographic data by multivariate logistic regression and applied sample weighting because of different study periods in the SCA and SCNA arms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the patients, 37.2% delayed alert beyond 6 h. Compared to non-delayers, latecomers were more likely diabetics, illiterates, belonged to an unfavored social class, and were living alone. Fewer had concomitant atrial fibrillation and alerted through emergency medical service (EMS)/112 whilst suffering a mild or moderate stroke. Amongst patients interviewed, being unaware of stroke's vascular nature and erroneously self-perceiving stroke as a reversible or irrelevant condition independently predicted a longer delay.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Delaying alert after stroke shows a multifactorial background with implication of pre-stroke health status, socioeconomic factors, stroke-related features and patients' beliefs and attitudes toward the disease. In planning future educational campaigns, all these features should be considered.
authors.affiliation: Stroke Programme, Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research, Barcelona, Spain. sabilleira@aatrm.catsalut.cat
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abilleira
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lucente
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ribera
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Permanyer-Miralda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallofré
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis / Q000639:trends*; D004522:Educational Status; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000639:trends; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology