Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36744481›Full record

ArticleSouth African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care2023

Clinical review of stroke care at National District Hospital, Bloemfontein.

Selma Smit, Dirk T Hagemeister, Cornel Van Rooyen

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 39% 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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Selma SmitDepartment of Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein. selmabasson@gmail.com.
Dirk T Hagemeister
Cornel Van Rooyen
University of the Free State · ZA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundStroke is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality affecting sub-Saharan Africa. Studies show that dedicated stroke units improve patient outcomes. National District Hospital (NDH) manages strokes, with the potential of becoming a dedicated stroke unit in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics, management and outcomes of patients presenting with stroke at NDH.

methodsIn this retrospective descriptive study, emergency department registers were used to identify patients presenting with symptoms of a stroke between 01 January 2019 and 31 March 2019. Relevant data were extracted from hospital files.

resultsOf the 106 identified patients, 53 were included in the study. The median age was 61 years (range 28-89 years), with an almost equal split between genders. The most common risk factor was hypertension (81.3%). The median time from symptom onset to presentation at NDH was 9 h. No patient received thrombolysis. One patient received neurosurgical intervention. The most prescribed secondary preventative drugs were antihypertensive medication, statins, anticoagulation and antiretroviral therapy. Half (52.8%) of the patients received rehabilitation as in-patients. Final diagnoses were ischaemic strokes (26/53, 49.0%), transient ischaemic attacks (10/56, 22.7%) and haemorrhagic strokes (6/56, 13.6%). The 6-month post-infarct mortality rate was 37.5%.

conclusionPatient outcomes were comparable to similar South African studies. Time delays in stroke management remain a major obstacle. Identified action points include community education, improving emergency medical services and establishing a dedicated stroke unit.Contribution: This study underlines the importance of stroke and cardiovascular disease prevention and stresses the value of establishing dedicated stroke units.

Indexed as

Ischemic Attack, TransientStrokeAdultAgedAged, 80 and overDelivery of Health CareFemaleHospitals, DistrictHumansMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective Studiesemergency stroke careneurological outcomerehabilitationstrokestroke unitthrombolysis

Identifiers

PMID36744481
PMCPMC9983283
OpenAlexW4312216127

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

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.