Trends of ischemic stroke admission during two years of COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective cross-sectional study at a tertiary hospital in Indonesia

Abstract

Introduction: There is no much information on how admission rates of non-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diseases altered after two years of COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to determine the pattern of ischemic stroke admission rates within the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Method: A cross-sectional retrospective study investigated the admissions data of ischemic stroke was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Indonesia between January 2019 and December 2021. Ischemic stroke patients aged over 18 years old were identified using the ICD-10 I63 code. The data was accumulated every month and analyzed descriptively. We also analyzed the admissions data of ischemic stroke patients with COVID-19 and in-hospital mortality was calculated. Results: There were 2,710 ischemic stroke patients treated between 2019 and 2021 of which the number decreased from 1535 patients in 2019 to 730 in 2020 and only 445 cases in 2021. During 2019-2021, a total of 777 patients (28.67%) died during hospitalization; the most was in 2021 (33.3%). There is a consistent downward trend in ischemic stroke admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic with the monthly average admissions decreased 52.4% in 2020 compared to 2019 and 38.9% in 2021. Despite that, the mortality rate of ischemic stroke patients in the hospital increased from 26.5% in 2019 to 30.4% in 2020, and 33.3% in 2021. The number of ischemic stroke patients coinfected with COVID-19 was 3.5% (26/730) in 2020 and 8.1% (36/445) in 2021. Of all 62 ischemic stroke cases with COVID-19 in 2020-2021, 36 died yielded 58.1% in-hospital mortality rate. Conclusion: The decreased admissions and the increased mortality rate of ischemic stroke patients in particular those coinfected with COVID-19 during the first two years of pandemic should draw government attention to the necessity of improving stroke managements in Indonesia.