Early arrival did not ensure the early acquisition of intravenous thrombosis for acute ischemic stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a time-dependent treatment with a narrow therapeutic time window, in which the time delay could result from the deadline effect.

Methods: One hospital-based cohort was recruited to detect the factors contributing to the deadline effect, where patients with the deadline effect were defined as those who were presented with the onset-to-door time (ODT) in the first 50%, while the door-to-needle time (DNT) was in the last quartile. DNT (in-hospital delay) was further subdivided into several time intervals [door-to-examination time (DET), door-to-imaging time (DIT), door-to-laboratory time (DLT), and decision-making time (DMT) of the patients or their proxies.

Results: A total of 186 IVT cases were enrolled, of which 17.2% (32/186) suffered a delay of the deadline effect. The median age was 66 years, and 35.5% were female. Baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups (all p > .05). For the comparisons of the time intervals, DIT (26 versus 15 min, p = .001) was significantly longer in the group with deadline effect, while the differences of DET, DLT, DMT, and ONT did not reach statistical significance (all p > .05). Upon multivariable adjustment in the binary logistic regression model, longer DIT [odds ratio (OR), 1.076; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.036-1.118; p < .001], and history of coronary heart disease (OR, 3.898; 95%CI, 1.415-10.735; p = .008) were independently associated with deadline effect in the binary logistic regression model, while admitted in the working day (OR, 0.674; 95%CI, 0.096-0.907; p = .033), and having medical insurance (OR, 0.350; 95% CI, 0.132-0.931; p = .035) were negatively associated with the deadline effect.

Conclusions: A speed-safety tradeoff phenomenon from the deadline effect was observed in 17.2% of IVT cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, where longer DIT contributed a lot to this time delay. Patients without medical insurance, or admitted in official holidays were more likely to experience a delay of the deadline effect.