Document Type : Original Article

Author

• farhad iranmanesh

Abstract

Introduction: Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Recent studies showed that COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with higher frequency of stroke. The present study investigated the epidemiologic aspects of stroke 2 years before and during covid-19 pandemic in kerman. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was done in Kerman state. The participants included all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of stroke. COVID-9 confirmation was based on a positive result from a PCR test. The data was analyzed with SPSS.V24 software. Results: In this study 4152 patients with stoke were evaluated. The frequency of stroke before and during covid-19 pandemic was same. Total number of stroke cases with COVID was 298(%8/16) cases. The frequency of ischemic strokes in the pre-COVID period was 1751 and after the COVID epidemic 1770 patients. Before and after the pandemic, the mean age of ischemic stroke patients was 67.42±14.14 and 64.49±14.46 respectively. which showed a statistically significant difference (P>0.001). Our findings showed a significant difference between NIHSS of ischemic stroke before and after the pandemic (P<0.001). The mortality rate of stroke patients was 111 before COVID and 115 patients in the first two years of COVID. Except mortality rate (P<0.001), there was not any significant difference in other demographic variables between ischemic stroke patients with and without covid. Conclusion: The patients with ischemic stroke in COVID pandemic period were younger and had more neurological deficit than the ischemic stroke patients before pandemic period. COVID-19 was associated with higher mortality in patients with ischemic stroke.

Keywords

• Frequency
• Corona
• Sex
• Mortality
• Ischemic