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Introduction: Little is known regarding pre-hospital and in-hospital delays in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients in Indonesia. This study aimed to evaluate the nature of these delays and identify factors causing pre-hospital delays among AIS patients in Indonesia. Methods: This was a prospective, observational study conducted among adult AIS patients in 3 hospitals in Surabaya during March–August 2019. Baseline characteristics along with time intervals both pre- and post-arrival of patients to the study sites were collected and analysed. Multiple logistic regression analyses with a stepwise forward model were performed to evaluate the factors contributing to the pre-hospital delay. Results: A total of 126 patients were recruited in this study. Mean age ± S.D. was 58.56 ± 10.71 years old. The mean ± S.D. time of pre-hospital delay and mean ± S.D. time to computerized tomography scan were 1,004±1,116.09 and 189±166.44 minutes, respectively. Only 18 out of 126 patients (14.29%) presented to the hospitals within 4.5-hour of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) time window. However, only 3 patients (2.38%) ultimately received IVT. Wake-up stroke (OR=17.865; p=0.019), unawareness of the gravity of symptoms (OR=11.025; p=0.007), unawareness of stroke symptoms (OR=7.880; p=0.003) and referral patient (OR=7.819; p=0.008) were significantly associated with pre-hospital delay. Conclusion: Pre-hospital delay of AIS was very common and represented a challenging problem to improve stroke care in Indonesia. Wake-up stroke along with lack of patient understanding in recognizing stroke symptoms and ineffective referral system were the most prominent risk factors for pre-hospital delay in Indonesian AIS patients.
Nathisuwan et al. (Fri,) studied this question.