Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on young stroke

Abstract

Background & Objective: Covid-19 infection has diverse effect on human health. We aimed to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the young stroke cases in an emergency services in a tertiary hospital in Istanbul, Turkey.

Method: A total of 86 patients younger than 50 years confirmed to have stroke seen between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020 were included in the study. The year 2019 was defined as the pre-pandemic period and the year 2020 as the pandemic period. The patients’ stroke type, localization, mortality, laboratory and imaging data were evaluated.

Results: Eighty-six patients were included in the study. The mean age was 38.69±5.39 years, 49 (57%) were female. Of the patients, 78 (90.7%) were ischemic and 8 (9.3%) were hemorrhagic stroke. In the pandemic group, ischemic stroke was observed in 55 (96.5%) and hemorrhagic stroke in 2 (3.5%) (p=0.010). While the mean age of the patients in the survival group was 39.24±5.70 years, it was 36.61±3.38 years in the mortality group (p=0.008). While the mortality was 18 (20.9%) overall, it was 16 (18.6%) patients during the pandemic period, and 2 (2.3%) patients in the pre-pandemic period, the difference was statistically significant. (p=0.014).

Conclusion: COVID-19 infection appear to increase the risk of ischemic stroke and worsens the mortality among the young. More comprehensive and prospective studies are needed to confirm this observation.