Shahram AbootalebiBenjamin M. AertkerMohammad Sobhan AndalibiNegar AsdaghiOzlem AykacM. Reza AzarpazhoohM. Cecilia BahitKristian BarlinnHamidon BasriReza Bavarsad ShahripourAnna BersanoJose BillerAfshin Borhani-HaghighiRobert D. BrownBruce CV CampbellSalvador Cruz-FloresDeidre Anne De SilvaMario Di NapoliAfshin A. DivaniRandall C. EdgellJohanna T. FifiAbdoreza GhoreishiTeruyuki HiranoKeun Sik HongChung Y. HsuJosephine F. HuangManabu InoueAmanda L. JagolinoMoira KapralHoo Fan KeeZafer KeserRakesh KhatriMasatoshi KogaJerzy KrupinskiDavid S. LiebeskindLiping LiuHenry MaAlberto MaudLouise D. McCulloughDawn Matherne MeyerVictoria MifsudNegar MorovatdarYongchai NilanontThomas J. OxleyAtilla Özcan ÖzdemirJeyaraj PandianLeonardo PantoniNikolaos I.H. PapamitsakisAdrian Parry-JonesThanh PhanGustavo RodriguezJose G. RomanoZiad Sabaa-AyounHamidreza SaberPayam SasannezhadJeffrey L. SaverEugene ScharfAshfaq ShuaibBrian SilverShaloo SinghalCraig J. SmithSaverio StrangesP. N. SylajaMichel TorbeyKazunori ToyodaGeorgios TsivgoulisMohammad WasayNawaf YassiTakeshi YoshimotoBabak ZamaniRamin ZandClinical Neurology Research CenterBeijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityLuxembourg Institute of HealthThe Aga Khan UniversityUNM School of MedicineUniversity of AlbertaUniversity of California, San DiegoRobarts Research InstituteUniversity of MiamiEskişehir Osmangazi ÜniversitesiSt. Louis UniversitySree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and TechnologyUniversity of MelbourneDresden University Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav CarusUniversiti Putra MalaysiaIran University of Medical SciencesSUNY Downstate Health Sciences UniversityManchester Metropolitan UniversityCleveland Clinic FoundationKyorin UniversityMonash UniversitySingapore General HospitalInstitute for Clinical Evaluative SciencesFoundation IRCCS Neurological Institute "C. Besta"University of TorontoLoyola University Health SystemKokuritsu Junkankibyo SentaDalhousie UniversityAttikon University HospitalInje UniversityIcahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiUniversity of ZanjanFaculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol UniversityWestern UniversitySalford Royal NHS FoundationTrustGeisinger Health SystemChina Medical University TaichungChristian Medical College & Hospital, LudhianaMayo ClinicDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLAThe Mount Sinai HospitalThe University of ManchesterMayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FloridaOspedale Luigi Sacco - Polo UniversitarioUniversity of Tennessee Health Science CenterMashhad University of Medical SciencesUniversity of Massachusetts Medical SchoolChief of CardiologyUTHealth McGovern Medical SchoolSMDN-Centre for Cardiovascular Medicine and Cerebrovascular Disease PreventionTexas Tech Health University Health Sciences CenterHospital Universitari Mútua TerrassaSan Camillo de' Lellis District General Hospital2020-08-252020-08-252020-09-01Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases. Vol.29, No.9 (2020)15328511105230572-s2.0-85086253184https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/58028© 2020 Background and purpose: The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), now named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), may change the risk of stroke through an enhanced systemic inflammatory response, hypercoagulable state, and endothelial damage in the cerebrovascular system. Moreover, due to the current pandemic, some countries have prioritized health resources towards COVID-19 management, making it more challenging to appropriately care for other potentially disabling and fatal diseases such as stroke. The aim of this study is to identify and describe changes in stroke epidemiological trends before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This is an international, multicenter, hospital-based study on stroke incidence and outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will describe patterns in stroke management, stroke hospitalization rate, and stroke severity, subtype (ischemic/hemorrhagic), and outcomes (including in-hospital mortality) in 2020 during COVID-19 pandemic, comparing them with the corresponding data from 2018 and 2019, and subsequently 2021. We will also use an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis to assess the change in stroke hospitalization rates before, during, and after COVID-19, in each participating center. Conclusion: The proposed study will potentially enable us to better understand the changes in stroke care protocols, differential hospitalization rate, and severity of stroke, as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, this will help guide clinical-based policies surrounding COVID-19 and other similar global pandemics to ensure that management of cerebrovascular comorbidity is appropriately prioritized during the global crisis. It will also guide public health guidelines for at-risk populations to reduce risks of complications from such comorbidities.Mahidol UniversityMedicineArticleSCOPUS10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2020.104938