Objective:The objectives of this study were to measure the global impact of the pandemic on the volumes for intravenous thrombolysis (IVT), IVT transfers, and stroke hospitalizations over 4 months at the height of the pandemic (March 1 to June 30, 2020) compared with two control 4-month periods.Methods:We conducted a cross-sectional, observational, retrospective study across 6 continents, 70 countries, and 457 stroke centers. Diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes and/or classifications in stroke databases.Results:There were 91,373 stroke admissions in the 4 months immediately before compared to 80,894 admissions during the pandemic months, representing an 11.5% (95%CI, -11.7 to - 11.3, p<0.0001) decline. There were 13,334 IVT therapies in the 4 months preceding compared to 11,570 procedures during the pandemic, representing a 13.2% (95%CI, -13.8 to -12.7, p<0.0001) drop. Interfacility IVT transfers decreased from 1,337 to 1,178, or an 11.9% decrease (95%CI, -13.7 to -10.3, p=0.001). Recovery of stroke hospitalization volume (9.5%, 95%CI 9.2-9.8, p<0.0001) was noted over the two later (May, June) versus the two earlier (March, April) pandemic months. There was a 1.48% stroke rate across 119,967 COVID-19 hospitalizations. SARS-CoV-2 infection was noted in 3.3% (1,722/52,026) of all stroke admissions.Conclusions:The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a global decline in the volume of stroke hospitalizations, IVT, and interfacility IVT transfers. Primary stroke centers and centers with higher COVID19 inpatient volumes experienced steeper declines. Recovery of stroke hospitalization was noted in the later pandemic months.

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Introduction: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in Latin America, a region with countless gaps to be addressed to decrease its burden. In 2018, at the first Latin American Stroke Ministerial Meeting, stroke physician and healthcare manager representatives from 13 countries signed the Declaration of Gramado with the priorities to improve the region, with the commitment to implement all evidence-based strategies for stroke care. The second meeting in March 2020 reviewed the achievements in 2 years and discussed new objectives. This paper will review the 2-year advances and future plans of the Latin American alliance for stroke.Method: In March 2020, a survey based on the Declaration of Gramado items was sent to the neurologists participants of the Stroke Ministerial Meetings. The results were confirmed with representatives of the Ministries of Health and leaders from the countries at the second Latin American Stroke Ministerial Meeting.Results: In 2 years, public stroke awareness initiatives increased from 25 to 75% of countries. All countries have started programs to encourage physical activity, and there has been an increase in the number of countries that implement, at least partially, strategies to identify and treat hypertension, diabetes, and lifestyle risk factors. Programs to identify and treat dyslipidemia and atrial fibrillation still remained poor. The number of stroke centers increased from 322 to 448, all of them providing intravenous thrombolysis, with an increase in countries with stroke units. All countries have mechanical thrombectomy, but mostly restricted to a few private hospitals. Pre-hospital organization remains limited. The utilization of telemedicine has increased but is restricted to a few hospitals and is not widely available throughout the country. Patients have late, if any, access to rehabilitation after hospital discharge.Conclusion: The initiative to collaborate, exchange experiences, and unite societies and governments to improve stroke care in Latin America has yielded good results. Important advances have been made in the region in terms of increasing the number of acute stroke care services, implementing reperfusion treatments and creating programs for the detection and treatment of risk factors. We hope that this approach can reduce inequalities in stroke care in Latin America and serves as a model for other under-resourced environments.

Background: Stroke is the second leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Stroke centers have become a central component of modern stroke services in many high-income countries, but their feasibility and efficacy in low, middle, and emerging high-income countries are less clear. Also, despite the availability of international guidelines, many hospitals worldwide do not have organized clinical stroke care. We present a methodology to help hospitals develop stroke centers and review quality data after implementation.Objectives: To describe and compare demographics, performance, and clinical outcomes of the Pacífica Salud, Hospital Punta Pacífica (PSHPP) stroke center during its first 3 years 2017–2019.Methods: Pacífica Salud, Hospital Punta Pacífica was organized to implement protocols of care based on the best practices by international guidelines and a quality improvement process. The methodology for implementation adapts a model for translating evidence into practice for implementation of evidence-based practices in medicine. This is a retrospective study of prospectively collected quality data between March of 2017 to December of 2019 for patients admitted to PSHPP with primary diagnosis stroke. Data collected include demographics, clinical data organized per the Joint Commission's STK Performance Measures, door to needle, door to groin puncture, 90 day modified Rankin Score, and hemorrhagic complications from IV thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy (MT). Primary outcome: year over year proficiency in documenting performance measures. Secondary outcome: year over year improvement.Results: A total of 143 patients were admitted for acute ischemic stroke, TIA, or hemorrhagic stroke. Of these, 36 were admitted in 2017, 50 in 2018, and 57 in 2019. Performance measure proficiency increased in the year-over-year analysis as did the total number of patients and the number of patients treated with IV thrombolysis and MT.Conclusions: We present the methodology and results of a stroke program implementation in Panamá. This program is the first in the country and in Central America to achieve Joint Commission International (JCI) certification as a Primary Stroke Center (PSC). We postulate that the dissemination of management guidelines is not sufficient to encourage the development of stroke centers. The application of a methodology for translation of evidence into practice with mentorship facilitated the success of this program.

Objective: The relationship between depressive symptoms (DS) and carotid stenosis (CS) in elderly individuals has received a lot of attention recently, with conflicting results. Attempts to look for several serum inflammatory markers that could correlate with both conditions have also been made, mainly in Caucasian population. The purpose of this study is to examine associations between DS, CS, and seven inflammatory markers in an elderly Panamanian cohort. Methods: A sample of 136 elder individuals underwent Doppler sonography to estimate the presence of CS. DS were assessed with the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30). Blood samples were obtained and the following inflammatory markers were determined: Beta-2 microglobulin (B2M), fatty acid-binding protein (FABP), factor VII (FVII), I-309, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC), and pancreatic polypeptide (PP). Analyses of the relationship between functional abilities and biomarkers across different groups were conducted using multivariate analyses of covariance. Results: Participants with DS conserved fewer activities of daily living (ADL) abilities (p<0.000), had higher levels of B2M (p<0.000) and decreased levels of FABP (p=0.009). Patients with CS conserved fewer ADL abilities (p<0.000) and had higher levels of B2M (p=0.001). Subjects with DS and CS conserved fewer ADL abilities (p<0.000), had increased levels of B2M (p<0.000), and ICAM-1 (p=0.46). There were no significant multivariate effects for years of education, I-309, PP, factor VII, and TARC. Conclusions: In the present study, it was found that DS were associated with lower ADL abilities, increased levels of B2M, and decreased levels of FABP. CS was associated with lower ADL abilities and increased B2M, and significant associations were observed with the co-occurrence of CS and DS with lower ADL abilities, increased levels of B2M and ICAM-1. The implications of these significant effects could be pointing in the direction that inflammation may considerably modulate the association between CS and DS in non-Caucasian population.