Coronavirus disease 2019 and stroke in Iran: a case series and effects on stroke admissions

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has affected healthcare systems around the globe and massively impacted patients with various non-infectious, life-threatening conditions. Stroke is a major neurological disease contributing to death and disability worldwide, and is still an ongoing issue during the pandemic. Here we investigate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak on stroke manifestations, treatment courses, the outcome of stroke patients, and the hospitalization rate in a referral center for stroke management in Tehran, Iran.

Methods: We extracted data regarding 31 stroke patients (10 patients with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019) and compared the demographic and pathological characteristics of the patients with or without coronavirus disease 2019 infection. The association of demographic/pathological characteristics of stroke patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and a corresponding period during the previous year (49 patients) and an earlier period during the same year as the pandemic (50 patients) was also evaluated.

Results: The absolute number of admissions decreased about 40% during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Except for the stroke severity (P = 0.002), there were no significant changes in the demographic and pathological characteristics of the stroke patients during the three studied periods. A significantly higher mean of age (75.60 ± 9.54 versus 60.86 ± 18.45; P = 0.007), a significant difference in the type of stroke (P = 0.046), and significantly higher stroke severity (P = 0.024) were observed in stroke patients with coronavirus disease 2019 compared with those of stroke patients without coronavirus disease 2019. Treatment approaches, duration of hospitalization, and mortality rates did not differ significantly.

Conclusions: This report shows that the pandemic caused the number of acute stroke admissions to plummet compared to other periods. Although the pandemic did not affect the treatment plans and care of the patients, stroke cases with coronavirus disease 2019 had higher age, more large vessel ischemic stroke, and more severe stroke. Further studies are urgently needed to realize the probable interaction of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the neurologic disease.