Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27847681›Full record

ArticleNeurology. Clinical practice2016

Language barriers between physicians and patients are not associated with thrombolysis of stroke mimics.

Sara K Rostanski, Olajide Williams, Joshua I Stillman, Randolph S Marshall, Joshua Z Willey

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neurology. Clinical practice, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.6field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Patient Safety Event Risk and Language Barriers: A Scoping Review.Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Diagnostic Error in Stroke-Reasons and Proposed Solutions.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2018
    Review
  7. Stroke Chameleons and Stroke Mimics in the Emergency Department.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2017
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Sara K RostanskiDepartments of Neurology (SKR, OW, RSM, JZW) and Emergency Medicine (JIS), Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.
Olajide WilliamsDepartments of Neurology (SKR, OW, RSM, JZW) and Emergency Medicine (JIS), Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.
Joshua I StillmanDepartments of Neurology (SKR, OW, RSM, JZW) and Emergency Medicine (JIS), Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.
Randolph S MarshallDepartments of Neurology (SKR, OW, RSM, JZW) and Emergency Medicine (JIS), Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.
Joshua Z WilleyDepartments of Neurology (SKR, OW, RSM, JZW) and Emergency Medicine (JIS), Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.
Columbia University Irving Medical Center · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAcute stroke is a time-sensitive condition in which rapid diagnosis must be made in order for thrombolytic treatment to be administered. A certain proportion of patients who receive thrombolysis will be found on further evaluation to have a diagnosis other than stroke, so-called "stroke mimics." Little is known about the role of language discordance in the emergency department diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke.

methodsThis is a retrospective analysis of all acute ischemic stroke patients who received IV tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in our emergency department between July 2011 and December 2015. Baseline characteristics, patient language, and final diagnosis were compared between encounters in which the treating neurologist and patient spoke the same language (concordant cases) and encounters in which they did not (discordant cases).

resultsA total of 350 patients received IV tPA during the study period. English was the primary language for 52.6%, Spanish for 44.9%, and other languages for 2.6%; 60.3% of cases were classified as language concordant and 39.7% as discordant. We found no significant difference in the proportion of stroke mimics in the language concordant compared to discordant groups (16.6% vs 9.4%,

conclusionsLanguage discordance was not associated with acute stroke misdiagnosis among patients treated with IV tPA. Prospective evaluation of communication during acute stroke encounters is needed to gain clarity on the role of language discordance in acute stroke misdiagnosis.

Identifiers

PMID27847681
PMCPMC5100703
OpenAlexW2510385279

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.