Baseline characteristics and investigations of patients during the pre-COVID period and the post-COVID period
| Characteristic or investigation | Total | Pre-COVID time (September 2019 to February 2020) | COVID time (March 2020) | COVID time (April 2020) | COVID time (May 2020) | Post-COVID time (March to May 2020) | P value |
| (n=1796) | (n=1376, average=229.3 per month) | (n=157) | (n=128) | (n=135) | (n=420) | ||
| Age, mean (years) | 53.0±14.2 | 52.5±14.0 | 54.5±14.8 | 54.6±14.4 | 54.9±15.0 | 54.7±14.7 | 0.007* |
| Sex (males) | 1318 (73.4) | 1010 (73.4) | 115 (73.2) | 89 (69.5) | 104 (77.0) | 308 (73.3.0) | 0.978 |
| Sec (females) | 478 (26.6) | 366 (26.6) | 42 (26.8) | 39 (30.5) | 31 (23.0) | 112 (26.7) | |
| Hypertension | 1181 (65.8) | 904 (65.7) | 118 (75.2) | 90 (70.3) | 69 (51.1) | 277 (66.0) | 0.923 |
| Diabetes | 838 (46.7) | 626 (45.5) | 83 (52.9) | 62 (48.4) | 67 (49.6) | 212 (50.5) | 0.073 |
| Dyslipidaemia | 928 (51.7) | 701 (50.9) | 99 (63.1) | 70 (54.7) | 58 (43.0) | 227 (54.0) | 0.265 |
| Coronary artery disease | 195 (10.9) | 142 (10.3) | 21 (13.4) | 13 (10.2) | 19 (14.1) | 53 (12.6) | 0.185 |
| Atrial fibrillation on admission | 126 (7.0) | 99 (7.2) | 12 (7.6) | 5 (3.9) | 10 (7.4) | 27 (6.4) | 0.590 |
| History of stroke | 202 (11.2) | 153 (11.1) | 21 (13.4) | 13 (10.2) | 15 (11.1) | 49 (11.7) | 0.756 |
| Active smoking | 415 (23.1) | 331 (24.1) | 34 (21.7) | 27 (21.1) | 23 (17.0) | 84 (20.0) | 0.084 |
| Final diagnosis | |||||||
| Ischaemic stroke | 797 (44.4) | 572 (41.6) | 79 (50.3) | 72 (56.3) | 74 (54.8) | 225 (53.6) | <0.001* |
| Transient ischaemic attack | 192 (10.7) | 157 (11.4) | 14 (8.9) | 16 (12.5) | 5 (3.7) | 35 (8.3) | 0.074 |
| Intracerebral haemorrhage | 165 (9.2) | 111 (8.1) | 16 (10.2) | 11 (8.6) | 27 (20.0) | 54 (12.9) | 0.003* |
| Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis | 18 (1.0) | 13 (0.9) | 2 (1.3) | 2 (1.6) | 1 (0.7) | 5 (1.2) | 0.587 |
| Stroke mimic | 624 (34.7) | 523 (38.0) | 46 (29.3) | 27 (21.1) | 28 (20.7) | 101 (24.0) | <0.001* |
| TOAST classification | |||||||
| Small vessel disease | 336 (41.2) | 258 (44.1) | 38 (46.9) | 25 (33.8) | 15 (20.0) | 78 (33.9) | 0.008* |
| Large vessel disease | 141 (17.3) | 84 (14.4) | 17 (21.0) | 24 (23.0) | 16 (21.3) | 57 (24.8) | <0.001* |
| Cardioembolic | 215 (26.4) | 151 (25.8) | 17 (21.0) | 17 (23.0) | 30 (40.0) | 64 (27.8) | 0.557 |
| Stroke of determined origin | 43 (5.3) | 32 (5.5) | 3 (3.7) | 3 (4.1) | 5 (6.7) | 11 (4.8) | 0.693 |
| Stroke of undetermined origin | 80 (9.8) | 60 (10.3) | 6 (7.4) | 5 (6.8) | 9 (12.0) | 20 (8.7) | 0.500 |
| Prognosis—at discharge | |||||||
| Good (mRS 0–2) | 1246 (69.4) | 997 (72.5) | 97 (61.8) | 76 (59.4) | 76 (56.3) | 249 (59.3) | <0.001* |
| Poor (mRS 3–6) | 550 (30.6) | 379 (27.5) | 60 (38.2) | 52 (40.6) | 59 (43.7) | 171 (40.7) | |
| Mortality—at discharge | 23 (1.3) | 15 (1.1) | 2 (1.3) | 2 (1.6) | 4 (3.0) | 8 (1.9) | 0.194 |
| NIHSS on admission | 3.9±6.1 | 3.6±5.9 | 4.4±5.7 | 5.3±6.7 | 6.0±7.4 | 5.2±6.6 | <0.001* |
| Mild stroke (NIHSS 4 or less) | 1347 (75.0) | 1071 (77.8) | 111 (70.7) | 84 (65.6) | 81 (60.0) | 276 (65.7) | <0.001* |
| Moderate stroke (NIHSS 5–10) | 227 (12.6) | 155 (11.3) | 23 (14.6) | 25 (19.5) | 24 (17.8) | 72 (17.1) | 0.002* |
| Severe stroke (NIHSS >10) | 222 (12.4) | 150 (10.9) | 23 (14.6) | 19 (14.8) | 30 (22.2) | 72 (17.1) | 0.001* |
*Significant p values.
mRS, modified Rankin Scale; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; TOAST, Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment.