Stroke Emergency Medical Care: Initial Assessment, Risk Factors, Triage and Hospitalization Outcome

Conflict of interest: none declared. GOALS: The goals of this research are: a) to determine the number, gender and age representation of patients with a working diagnosis of acute stroke referred by the Institute for Emergency Medical Care (IEMC) in the Clinical Center of Sarajevo University (CCSU); b) determine the incidence of patients that have been or have not been hospitalized and why; c) determine the time and procedure for emergency medical care; d) to determine the characteristics and outcomes of patients hospitalized with ischemic stroke at the Neurology Clinic CCUS. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was retrospective and included time period from 1st June 2010 to 30th November 2010. The study included patients of both sexes, older than 18 years of age. RESULTS: The study included a total of 233 patients. Of these, 65% are female, while 35% of patients were male. Of 82 patients who were admitted to hospital treatment at the Neurology Clinic, 55% of the patients were male and 45% female. The largest number of patients is older than 70 years (71%). Minimum time for emergency medical team arrival was 6 minutes and maximum 70 minutes (mean 35, SD 11.989). Motor weakness was noted in 31% of patients – left sided motor weakness was significantly more represented. In 73% of patients the diagnosis was confirmed. In 5% of patients thrombolytic therapy was administered, while 95% of patients were treated conservatively. Lethal outcome occurred in 30% of hospitalized patients, 37% were discharged as recovered, 30% were discharged as unaltered state, while 3% were discharged with worsening symptoms. Among risk factors, hypertension is the leading one, followed by an earlier stroke, diabetes mellitus, and cardiac arrhythmias. CONCLUSIONS: In 91% of patients consciousness was preserved. In 73% of transported patients has been confirmed the diagnosis of ischemic stroke. Of the patients with confirmed diagnosis 59% were hospitalized. A significant number of strokes occur for the first time in relation to relapse. 5% of patients were treated with thrombolysis, while others were treated with conservative therapy. Recurrent stroke and patient confusion have significant impact on the outcome.