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For March, April and May, the decline nationwide is up to 13 percent. In some places up to 25 percent.
– We’ve never seen a decline like this before, Hild Fjærtoft tells Dagbladet.
She is an associate professor at NTNU and CEO of the Norwegian Stroke Register, which records confirmed strokes in all 51 hospitals across the country.
100 less per month
In 2019, a total of 2,256 stroke victims visited the Norwegian health service in March, April and May. In 2020, the number is 1973 patients in the same period.
– On average, there has been a reduction of 100 stroke patients per month. It is relatively a lot considering that it is a serious disease.
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Earlier this week, Dagbladet wrote that new research also shows that far fewer have been admitted with acute myocardial infarction in both Norway and other European countries.
At the beginning of the pandemic, several hospitals warned of the decline in the number of heart and stroke patients, emphasizing the importance of these patients getting to the hospital.
– We still wonder if there are people at home who have not made contact after a mild stroke, says chief physician Hege Ihle-Hansen in the stroke section of the Oslo University Hospital Ullevål in Dagbladet.
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New everyday life
However, he believes that it may also be about people who have slightly different daily lives.
– That the pace has slowed down and the new lifestyle has reduced the incidence. We are also seeing a decrease in infections in general and that people have gotten less sick. There are fewer admissions, says Ihle-Hansen.
Also in the Stroke Section at OUS, they have also seen a marked decrease in the number of admissions. In Europe, similar trends are also reported. However, the cause is still uncertain, and the Norwegian Stroke Register will try to find answers through a study they have underway.
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– We don’t know if fewer have actually had a stroke or fewer have sought medical attention. We cannot rule out that there really has been a real decline because our living situation changed suddenly, but I have no evidence to say anything about it today, says Fjærtoft.
Possible normalization
If, in fact, patients with mild strokes are those who have not attended the health service, this can also affect them over time.
– We will have the opportunity to see the hospitalization rates later, if there really are patients who have not made contact and, therefore, have not received a good secondary prevention, that is, prevention against new strokes.
– How has the situation been from June to today?
– It appears to be back to normal, although we cannot say for sure until we have received all entries in the medical quality record.
Fjærtoft believes this may be related to the fact that it was clear to the health service this spring that seriously ill people had to seek help, plus admissions to the crown declined and the society gradually reopened.
– But it’s too early to finish here.
The planned study will also take a closer look at whether stroke patients waited too long to visit a hospital and whether it may have had undesirable consequences for treatment outcomes and subsequent functional level, says Fjærtoft.
Insane downsizing after blocking
Less income overall
Challenging crown every day
The OUS stroke section developed the offer to include patients from all over Oslo in May 2019. During its first year, the ward had 2,700 patients with suspected stroke, making it one of the wards with the highest number of patients treble. In an unclear corona situation, therefore, they had to quickly adjust and double the receiving capacity, so that one team could work close to the patient while another handled sampling and diagnosis.
– It can have significant consequences for survival if a stroke patient does not receive prompt treatment. “We were very clear that the emergency circuits had to be maintained as part of preparing for a pandemic,” says Ihle-Hansen.
– All those admitted with a suspected stroke were also treated as suspected corona patients, and were isolated until disproved. The current advantage is better tests and faster results, so now we can undress the patient faster.
This means that stroke patients in the current crown situation have better access to their relatives.
– Having a brain disease is very dramatic. What I think has been most difficult is not being able to have that closeness with family members, and it was an exercise in ensuring that they were taken care of, says Ihle-Hansen.
