Patients have delayed seeking emergency care because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery.
Researchers examined ischemic stroke patients during COVID-19. They reviewed 710 patients with acute ischemic strokes at 12 stroke centers across six U.S. states from February 2019 to March 2019 and February 2020 to March 2020.
They found:
1. Stroke patients were arriving to the hospital on average 160 minutes later than they would've in 2019. These delays affect survival and recovery rates.
2. The number of patients reporting strokes is also down from 223 in 2019 to 167 in 2020.
3. For every minute a patient loses before receiving care, there's an associated medical cost of $1,000 for short- and long-term care.