Characteristics, Management, and Case-Fatality of Patients Hospitalized for Stroke with a Diagnosis of COVID-19 in France

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> COVID-19 was found to be associated with an increased risk of stroke. This study aimed to compare characteristics, management, and outcomes of hospitalized stroke patients with or without a hospital diagnosis of CO­VID-19 at a nationwide scale. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This is a cross-sectional study on all French hospitals covering the entire French population using the French national hospital discharge databases (<i>Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d’Information</i>, included in the <i>Système National des Données de Santé</i>). All patients hospitalized for stroke between 1 January and 14 June 2020 in France were selected. A diagnosis of COVID-19 was searched for during the index hospitalization for stroke or in a prior hospitalization that had occurred after 1 January 2020. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Among the 56,195 patients hospitalized for stroke, 800 (1.4%) had a concomitant COVID-19 diagnosis. Inhospital case-fatality rates were higher in stroke patients with COVID-19, particularly for patients with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 (33.2%), as compared to patients hospitalized for stroke without CO­VID-19 diagnosis (14.1%). Similar findings were observed for 3-month case-fatality rates adjusted for age and sex that reached 41.7% in patients hospitalized for stroke with a concomitant primary diagnosis of COVID-19 versus 20.0% in strokes without COVID-19. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Patients hospitalized for stroke with a concomitant COVID-19 diagnosis had a higher inhospital and 3 months case-fatality rates compared to patients hospitalized for stroke without a COVID-19 diagnosis. Further research is needed to better understand the excess of mortality related to these cases.