Epidemiology of Stroke 2 Years Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic in Kerman (south of Iran): a Hospital-Based Study.

Introduction: Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Recent studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with a higher frequency of stroke. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiologic aspects of stroke two years before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kerman.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Kerman. The participants included all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of stroke. COVID-19 confirmation was based on a positive PCR test. The data was analyzed with SPSS.V24 software.

Results: In this study, 4152 patients with stroke were evaluated. The frequency of stroke before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was the same. The total number of stroke patients with COVID-19 was 298 (8.16%). The frequency of ischemic stroke patients before the COVID-19 pandemic was 1751 and during the pandemic was 1770. 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 the NIHSS of ischemic stroke before and after the pandemic (P<0.001). The mortality rate of stroke patients was 111 before COVID-19 and 115 patients in the first two years of COVID-19. Except for the mortality rate (P<0.001), there was no significant difference in other demographic variables between ischemic stroke patients with and without COVID-19.

Conclusion: The patients with ischemic stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic were younger and had more neurological deficits than the ischemic stroke patients before the pandemic. COVID-19 was associated with higher mortality in patients with ischemic stroke.