Rates of intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular therapy for acute ischaemic stroke in China between 2019 and 2020

In recent years, a series of initiatives have been launched to promote intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and endovascular therapy (EVT) for acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) in China. We aimed to update the rates of IVT and EVT in China between 2019 and 2020 and to evaluate the current IVT and EVT according to hospital grades.

Cross-sectional data on patients receiving IVT/EVT were derived from the Bigdata Observatory platform for Stroke of China (BOSC). The monthly number of discharged patients with a principal diagnosis of AIS was derived from the first pages of medical records of each hospital. The rates and information of IVT and EVT were analysed according to hospital grades.

During this period, 938 tertiary hospitals and 786 secondary hospitals from 31 provinces continuously reported data to the BOSC. The overall IVT rate for AIS was 5·64%, and the EVT rate was 1·45%. The IVT rate in secondary hospitals was higher than that in tertiary hospitals (6·39% vs. 5·39%, P < 0·001), whereas the EVT rate in secondary hospitals was much lower than that in tertiary hospitals (0·29% vs. 1·84%, P < 0·001). Significant differences in demographic and clinical characteristics of patients receiving IVT/EVT were also shown between tertiary and secondary hospitals.

The rates of IVT and EVT for AIS have greatly increased in China, but there is still a large gap compared with developed countries. Hospital inhomogeneity in IVT and EVT suggests the importance of developing a region-specific network for stroke treatment.

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