Background and Purpose-Patient delays in seeking treatment for stroke and delays within the Emergency Department (ED) are major factors in the lack of use of thrombolytic therapy for stroke. The Genentech Stroke Presentation Survey was a multicentered prospective registry of patients with acute stroke. The study was designed to characterize prehospital delays and delays within the ED. Methods-Patients with stroke symptoms presenting to 48 EDs participating in a clinical trial of acute stroke therapy were enrolled prospectively. A 1-page data form was completed from patient interviews and medical records. Results-A total of 1207 subjects were entered into the study. Ninety-four percent of the 721 subjects with complete data had a diagnosis of stroke or transient ischemic attack, 13% were black, 50% were female, and 67% were aged Ͼ65 years. The median time from symptom onset to ED arrival was 2.6 (interquartile range 1.2 to 6.3) hours. The median time from ED arrival until CT scan completion was 1.1 (0.7 to 1.8) hours, and the total delay time (symptom onset until CT scan completion) had a median of 4.0 (2.3 to 8.3) hours. Patients who arrived by emergency medical services had significantly shorter prehospital delay times and times to CT scan. Age, race, sex, and educational level did not appear to affect prehospital delay times. Conclusions-Despite its limitations, this large geographically diverse study strongly suggests that the use of emergency medical services is an important modifiable determinant of delay time for the treatment of acute stroke. (Stroke. 2000;31:2585-2590.)
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.