Time of stroke onset to arrival to the hospital: an experience from tertiary care centre

Introduction: There is lack of awareness of stroke in India instead of improvement in healthcare facilities and healthcare professional.
Objective: The aim of the present study was to compare the time of onset of stroke to arrival in hospital between the patients recruited in current registry R2 (July 2012 to January, 2014) to retrospectively recruited in earlier registry R1 (1998 to 2011)
Methods: In an observational study, consecutive patients were recruited from July 2012-January 2014 who were admitted in the wards or attending the out patients department. Prospectively recruited patients in R2 were compared with retrospective data of earlier registry R2.
Results: The median time (IQR) to reach for previous stroke registry (R1)s was 10(9) hours and for R2 registry was 24(48) hours which was significantly delayed ODT in the present registry (p=<0.0005). In all stroke patients, 74/1416 (5.2%) in R1 and 38/259 (7.8%) in R2 registry of the patients reached within 4.5 hours. For ischemic stroke patients, 81/212(6.9%) and 24/194(12.4%) patients reached AIIMS within 4.5 hours in R1 and R2 registry respectively which was significantly more in the present registry (p=0.005). For hemorrhagic stroke patients, 12/204(5.9%) and 14/57(24.6%) patients reached AIIMS within 4.5 hours in R1 and R2 registry respectively which was significantly different (0.001).
Conclusion: The study concludes that despite increase in the medical facilities and advancements the mean time of reaching a tertiary care centre after the onset of stroke has increased to seek specialist care.