Stroke epidemiology and COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose of review The aim of this study was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the epidemiology, cause and clinical characteristics of incident stroke in different settings and populations. Recent findings Several studies have shown that there are three main themes in the epidemiology of stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 seems to be associated with stroke in a significant number of patients. This association has been reported in several clinical series, mainly from China. There is a consistent trend towards a decreased number of hospital admissions of stroke patients during the pandemic. There are no population-based data available on incident stroke in individuals with COVID-19. Summary In this review, we report on increased rates and severe prognosis of ischemic stroke among individuals with COVID-19, probably explained by hypercoagulability and inflammation, documented since the early phase of disease. We confirm the presence of falling rates of new ischemic stroke admissions in hospitals, probably due to social consequences of the pandemic: fear to be infected or not adequately treated in the hospital. This phenomenon is restricted to mild stroke and transient ischemic attacks. Short and long-term consequences of this trend of new strokes in the pandemic need to be evaluated.