Stroke and TIA admissions, emergency department stroke alerts, stroke severity and delay to hospital presentation during the COVID-19 pandemic at US medical centres
| 2019 25 March to 21 April | 2020 23 March to 19 April* | |
| Stroke/TIA admissions, n | 410 | 281 |
| Stroke only† | 391 | 274 |
| TIA only | 19 | 7 |
| ED stroke alerts, n‡ | 561 | 301 |
| Baseline NIHSS, median score (range) | 7 (7–10) | 10 (8–11) |
| Stroke symptom onset to hospital arrival, median hours (range) | 6.9 (5.4–8.0) | 7.6 (4.9–12.5) |
*Univariate analyses comparing 2020 with 2019 measures were statistically significant (p<0.01), except for median time from stroke symptom onset to hospital arrival (p=0.14).
†Includes admissions for ischaemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage.
‡Including three medical centres in New York City, Providence and Seattle with available data.
ED, emergency department; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; TIA, transient ischaemic attack.