Effect of telestroke practices on short-term mortality in ischemic stroke patients

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the effect of telestroke practices on patient prognosis and mortality by comparing the data of patients that presented before and during a period when tele-stroke application was in use. Method Stroke patients presenting from October, 2018 to October, 2019 for whom WhatsApp was used for telestroke purposes, were evaluated as the telestroke group. The previous year it was a pre-telestroke group. The two groups were compared in terms of factors affecting prognosis and mortality. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 16.0 for Windows. Results A total of 727 patients clinically and radiologically confirmed to have ischemic stroke were included in the study. There were 252(34.6%) patients in the pre-telestroke group and 475(65,4%) patients in the telestroke group. Both rtPA and thrombectomy treatment were significantly higher in the telestroke group(p<0.001). In the first 24-hour evaluation, the rate of discharge increased and hospital admission and mortality decreased in the telestroke group(p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of poor prognosis and 30-day mortality(p=0.470 and p=0.625, respectively). Conclusion Telestroke practices not only provide access to the relevant clinical branch for early consultation but also facilitate timely treatment thus leading to improvement in prognosis.