ArticleAfrican journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence2022
Access to acute stroke care: A retrospective descriptive analysis of stroke patients' journey to a district hospital.
Article in African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Hearing-Functioning Problems Across High-Burden Adult Health Conditions in Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Pooled it
- Prehospital delay and associated factors among stroke patients in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Behavioral Determinants Potentially Relevant to First-Witness Responses in Prehospital Stroke Care: A COM-B-Based Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Barriers to thrombolysis in acute ischaemic stroke: an epidemiological review from a tertiary hospital in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2026Article
- Factors facilitating pre-hospital delays in stroke patients' presentation to hospital by their caretakers in Uganda and suggested interventions.BMC neurology · 2025Article
- Time delays in emergency stroke care in a low-resource referral hospital in Ghana.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2025Article
- Delays in Cardiovascular Emergency Responses in Africa: Health System Failures or Cultural Challenges?Global health, science and practice · 2024Article
- Stroke signs knowledge and factors associated with a delayed hospital arrival of patients with acute stroke in Kinshasa.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Prevalence and factors associated with pre-hospital delay among acute stroke patients at Mulago and Kiruddu national referral hospitals, Kampala: a cross-sectional study.BMC neurology · 2023Article
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3 authors.
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Abstract
Introduction: The burden of stroke in Africa has increased in the last two decades, with the population undergoing a rapid epidemiological transition, with a rise in the incidence of stroke risk factors together with the gradual aging of the population. Evidence-based guidelines for acute stroke care are often not feasible in resource challenged settings but even when resources are available, considerable delays to definitive care exists. This study aims to describe the factors that influence time from symptom onset to hospital arrival in patients that present to a district level hospital Emergency Centre with confirmed ischaemic strokes. Methods: A descriptive analysis was performed using a retrospective folder and database review. All adult patients with a confirmed ischaemic stroke, on Computed Tomography (CT) scan, presenting to Mitchells Plain Hospital Emergency Centre during the study period of 12 months (1 Results: A total of 730 (2%) patients presented with a diagnosis of stroke, of which 381 (52%) were included (CT confirmed ischaemic strokes). Only 48 (13%) presented within 4.5 h of symptom onset and the median time from onset of symptoms to presentation to the hospital was 24 h (IQR 12-72 h). The majority of patients (31%) arrived via a primary public emergency medical service (EMS) call, while 29% presented directly to the hospital as self-referrals with private transport. Primary public EMS calls had the shortest call-to-hospital-arrival time (1 hour and 31 minutes), even though the median time from symptom onset to hospital arrival was still 16 h. Conclusion: The median time from symptom onset to hospital arrival for patients with stroke symptoms is much longer than what evidence-based guidelines suggest. The chain of survival for emergency stroke care is only as strong as its weakest link and the data from this study suggest that improvement campaigns should target stroke education and access to care.
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