Six years’ experience of participation of the Institute of Emergency Medicine from Chisinau, Republic of Moldova in the Registry of Stroke Care Quality

Abstract

Background. The Institute of Emergency Medicine from Chisinau has joined the Registry of Stroke Care Quality (RES-Q) in 2017. Material and Methods. We have analyzed the stroke patients’ data introduced in RES-Q between 20172022. Baseline characteristics, stroke-related factors, processes of care, and discharge destination were examined. Results. Data were available for 489 stroke patients. The proportion of patients with ischemic strokes receiving thrombolysis therapy has substantially increased from 2.78% in 2017 to 20% in 2022, and the median door-toneedle time decreased from 85 minutes (2017) to 48 minutes (2021). Thrombectomy began to be performed in 2018 at the Institute of Emergency Medicine, the rate of stroke patients receiving thrombectomy increased from 3.23% in 2019 to 10% in 2022, median door-to-groin time decreased from 228.5 minutes in 2019 to 102 minutes in 2021. More than 80% of patients received secondary prevention therapies that were level-1 evidence-based processes of care: antihypertensive agents (89.47% – 98.44%), antiplatelet drugs (81.63% – 100%), anticoagulants for patients with atrial fibrillation (25% in 2018 vs 100% in 2021), but cholesterol-lowering medication was prescribed to approximately a half of the participants (44.23% – 60.0%). There were more deaths in the pandemic years (36.67% in 2021 vs 18.99% in 2017). Conclusion. Most hospitalized stroke patients admitted to the Institute of Emergency Medicine received evidence-based care. The COVID-19 pandemic has left its mark on the number of stroke hospitalizations, but the quality of in-hospital stroke care was not dramatically affected.