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.

In the urban areas under study the overall prevalence of self-medication was 26.2%. Predictive factors for self-medication seem to be, a high level of education, professional status and length of waiting times for a medical consultation in cases of a severe health problem. Further research on this subject is needed to confirm the reproducibility of these results, since potential selection bias could have been introduced due to the method used for patient selection. Pharmacoepidemiologic research is feasible in Portuguese community pharmacies.

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During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the World Health Organization recommended measures to mitigate the outbreak such as social distancing and confinement. Since these measures have been put in place, anecdotal reports describe a decrease in the number of endovascular therapy (EVT) treatments for acute ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion. The purpose of our study was to determine the effect on EVT for patients with acute ischemic stroke during the COVID-19 confinement. In this retrospective, observational study, data were collected from November 1, 2019, to April 15, 2020, at 17 stroke centers in countries where confinement measures have been in place since March 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic (Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Canada, and United States). This study included 1600 patients treated by EVT for acute ischemic stroke. Date of EVT and symptom onset-to-groin puncture time were collected. Mean number of EVTs performed per hospital per 2-week interval and mean stroke onset-to-groin puncture time were calculated before confinement measures and after confinement measures. Distributions (non-normal) between the 2 groups (before COVID-19 confinement versus after COVID-19 confinement) were compared using 2-sample Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The results show a significant decrease in mean number of EVTs performed per hospital per 2-week interval between before COVID-19 confinement (9.0 [95% CI, 7.8–10.1]) and after COVID-19 confinement (6.1 [95% CI, 4.5–7.7]), ( P <0.001). In addition, there is a significant increase in mean stroke onset-to-groin puncture time ( P <0.001), between before COVID-19 confinement (300.3 minutes [95% CI, 285.3–315.4]) and after COVID-19 confinement (354.5 minutes [95% CI, 316.2–392.7]). Our preliminary analysis indicates a 32% reduction in EVT procedures and an estimated 54-minute increase in symptom onset-to-groin puncture time after confinement measures for COVID-19 pandemic were put into place.

Background and Purpose-Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters are markers of cerebral lesion in some diseases. In patients with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), we investigated whether DTI parameters measured at <72 hours might be associated with delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) and with poor functional outcome at 3 months (modified Rankin Scale score ≥3). Methods-DTI was performed in a prospective cohort of 60 patients with nontraumatic SAH at <72 hours. Association of fractional anisotropy and apparent diffusion coefficient values at <72 hours with the occurrence of DCI and outcome at 3 months was evaluated with logistic regression models, adjusting for known predictors of prognosis. Results-At <72 hours after SAH, fractional anisotropy values at the cerebellum were associated with DCI occurrence (78% less odds of DCI for each 0.1 increase in fractional anisotropy; P=0.019). Early apparent diffusion coefficient values were not associated with DCI. After adjusting for confounding variables, an increase of 10 U in apparent diffusion coefficient at the frontal centrum semiovale corresponded to 15% increased odds of poor outcome (P=0.061). Conclusions-DTI