The epidemiologic features of patients with acute stroke during COVID-19 pandemic in a COVID-19 center in Qazvin, Iran

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease is a global pandemic of different severity ranging from a mild respiratory disease to severe septic shock. Previous studies have established the association of acute stroke and COVID-19. Herein, we aimed to describe the characteristics of patients with stroke during COVID-19 pandemic.

in this cross sectional study, all patients with acute stroke who referred to Bouali hospital were enrolled from March to June 2020. The patients were categorized into two groups with and without COVID-19. In the following, the demographic and clinical characteristics of stroke patients in both groups were evaluated. Eventually SPSS software version 22 was used to analyze the data.

61 patients with acute stroke were identified in which 22 patients were positive for COVID-19. Except for the in-hospital mortality (P=0.07) and type of hemorrhagic transformation (P=0.02), we did not find a significant difference in the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients in both groups. The majority of patients with COVID-19 were severely symptomatic. However, the severity of chest CT involvement was statistically correlated with the mean mRS (P=0.05).

In this study, we revealed acute stroke affected COVID-19 patients with traditional stroke risk factors at an age typically seen in non-COVID populations which mainly constitute cryptogenic acute ischemic stroke. We also noted a higher in-hospital mortality rate in patients with COVID-19 associated stroke which reflects a worse outcome of COVID-19. These results highlight the possible hypercoagulopathy state associated with COVID-19 which predisposes patients to develop stroke.