Reduction of 61.22% in reporting of weekly stroke cases since lockdown: Study report

Ahmedabad: A study covering experts from 13 established stroke centres, including AIIMS Delhi, PGI Chandigarh, and CMC Ludhiana, has related the number of stroke cases to Covid-19 outbreak.

“An overall reduction of about 61.22% in reporting of weekly stroke cases has been observed across the country since the lockdown. Intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular procedures have been severely impacted with 64.76% and 67.21% reduction respectively. The drop in cases occurred equally in both Covid-19 designated and non-designated hospitals,” said Prof. Sudhir Shah Head of Dept. Smt. NHL Muncipal Medical College and Sterling Hospital.

The study discussing the challenges of stroke care during Covid-19 outbreak was published in the prestigious Annals of New York Academy of Sciences, USA, recently.

The study was conducted among neurologists in 13 major stroke care centres across the country. From Gujarat, NHL Municipal Medical College, Sterling Hospital, Zydus Hospital, and Neuro 1 were a part of the study. Hospitals/institutes from Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Pune, Mumbai, and Kolkata were also a part of the study.

The study included eminent neurologists and neuroscientist from Gujarat, viz. Padma Shri Prof. Sudhir Shah, Dr Arvind Sharma, and Dr Pallab Bhattacharya.

The study also noted similarities in the impact of Covid-19 on stroke care in India and the US.

“The decrease in acute stroke cases presenting to emergency rooms at stroke centres has been estimated at 30-40% in the US, about two-thirds of the reduction seen in India. Similarly, there is 50% reduction in all reperfusion therapies in the US, including thrombolysis and thrombectomies, which is lower than in India,” said neuroscientist Dr Pallab Bhattacharya from NIPER-Ahmedabad, who conceived the study alongwith Dr Kiran Kalia, Director of NIPER Gandhinagar.