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Primary Stroke Center Hospitalization for Elderly Patients With Stroke: Implications for Case Fatality and Travel Times.

ABSTRACT: IMPORTANCE:Physicians often must decide whether to treat patients with acute stroke locally or refer them to a more distant Primary Stroke Center (PSC). There is little evidence on how much the increased risk of prolonged travel time offsets benefits of a specialized PSC care. OBJECTIVES:To examine the association of case fatality with receiving care in PSCs vs other hospitals for patients with stroke and to identify whether prolonged travel time offsets the effect of PSCs. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:Retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries with stroke admitted to a hospital between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2013. Drive times were calculated based on zip code centroids and street-level road network data. We used an instrumental variable analysis based on the differential travel time to PSCs to control for unmeasured confounding. The setting was a 100% sample of Medicare fee-for-service claims. EXPOSURES:Admission to a PSC. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:Seven-day and 30-day postadmission case-fatality rates. RESULTS:Among 865?184 elderly patients with stroke (mean age, 78.9 years; 55.5% female), 53.9% were treated in PSCs. We found that admission to PSCs was associated with 1.8% (95% CI, -2.1% to -1.4%) lower 7-day and 1.8% (95% CI, -2.3% to -1.4%) lower 30-day case fatality. Fifty-six patients with stroke needed to be treated in PSCs to save one life at 30 days. Receiving treatment in PSCs was associated with a 30-day survival benefit for patients traveling less than 90 minutes, but traveling at least 90 minutes offset any benefit of PSC care. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:Hospitalization of patients with stroke in PSCs was associated with decreased 7-day and 30-day case fatality compared with noncertified hospitals. Traveling at least 90 minutes to receive care offset the 30-day survival benefit of PSC admission.

SUBMITTER: Bekelis K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5434865 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Primary Stroke Center Hospitalization for Elderly Patients With Stroke: Implications for Case Fatality and Travel Times.

Bekelis Kimon K Marth Nancy J NJ Wong Kendrew K Zhou Weiping W Birkmeyer John D JD Skinner Jonathan J

JAMA internal medicine 20160901 9

<h4>Importance</h4>Physicians often must decide whether to treat patients with acute stroke locally or refer them to a more distant Primary Stroke Center (PSC). There is little evidence on how much the increased risk of prolonged travel time offsets benefits of a specialized PSC care.<h4>Objectives</h4>To examine the association of case fatality with receiving care in PSCs vs other hospitals for patients with stroke and to identify whether prolonged travel time offsets the effect of PSCs.<h4>Des ...[more]

PMID: 27455403

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Project description:Although stroke centers are widely accepted and supported, little is known about their effect on patient outcomes.To examine the association between admission to stroke centers for acute ischemic stroke and mortality.Observational study using data from the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System. We compared mortality for patients admitted with acute ischemic stroke (n = 30,947) between 2005 and 2006 at designated stroke centers and nondesignated hospitals using differential distance to hospitals as an instrumental variable to adjust for potential prehospital selection bias. Patients were followed up for mortality for 1 year after the index hospitalization through 2007. To assess whether our findings were specific to stroke, we also compared mortality for patients admitted with gastrointestinal hemorrhage (n = 39,409) or acute myocardial infarction (n = 40,024) at designated stroke centers and nondesignated hospitals.Thirty-day all-cause mortality.Among 30,947 patients with acute ischemic stroke, 15,297 (49.4%) were admitted to designated stroke centers. Using the instrumental variable analysis, admission to designated stroke centers was associated with lower 30-day all-cause mortality (10.1% vs 12.5%; adjusted mortality difference, -2.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], -3.6% to -1.4%; P < .001) and greater use of thrombolytic therapy (4.8% vs 1.7%; adjusted difference, 2.2%; 95% CI, 1.6% to 2.8%; P < .001). Differences in mortality also were observed at 1-day, 7-day, and 1-year follow-up. The outcome differences were specific for stroke, as stroke centers and nondesignated hospitals had similar 30-day all-cause mortality rates among those with gastrointestinal hemorrhage (5.0% vs 5.8%; adjusted mortality difference, +0.3%; 95% CI, -0.5% to 1.0%; P = .50) or acute myocardial infarction (10.5% vs 12.7%; adjusted mortality difference, +0.1%; 95% CI, -0.9% to 1.1%; P = .83).Among patients with acute ischemic stroke, admission to a designated stroke center was associated with modestly lower mortality and more frequent use of thrombolytic therapy.

Dataset Information

Primary Stroke Center Hospitalization for Elderly Patients With Stroke: Implications for Case Fatality and Travel Times.

Publications

Primary Stroke Center Hospitalization for Elderly Patients With Stroke: Implications for Case Fatality and Travel Times.

Similar Datasets

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