Stroke patient admission timings and comparison with golden hour admissions at Tezpur Medical College and Hospital: A prospective study.

Abstract

This Prospective study observes the time of admission for stroke patients at the tertiary hospital of Assam and compares demographic and clinical characteristics between patients admitted within the "golden hour" and those admitted beyond this critical timeframe. Findings aim to identify factors associated with delayed admissions and evaluate the impact of admission timing on stroke care and patient outcomes. All the patients diagnosed with stroke admitted to Tezpur Medical College were followed up for a period of 4 months. This study adopts a prospective observational design that includes 217 stroke patients of above 18 years of age. A total of 217 stroke study patients were surveyed. 135 (62.2%) belonged to the age range of ≤60 years, whereas 82 (37.8%) patients were over 60 years. Majority of the study population comes from rural areas 170 (78.3%) and 47 (21.7%) from urban areas. The distance of patients from place of occurrence to the Hospital where majority of the 121 (55.8%) patients came from >40 km away from the hospital. Only 44 (20.3%) patients reached hospital in less than 4.5 hours (The Golden hours for treatment following a stroke). The remaining 173 (79.7%) patients took more than 4.5 hours to reach hospital. Majority of the 201 (92.6%) patients received treatment within or less than 30 min at hospital. The Comprehensive training and supervision of health care workers, in increasing awareness regarding the period of golden hour for stroke patients has been noted.