Poor haemorrhagic stroke outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic are driven by socioeconomic disparities: analysis of nationally representative data

BACKGROUND: Nationally representative studies evaluating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on haemorrhagic stroke outcomes are lacking.

METHODS: In this pooled cross-sectional analysis, we identified adults (≥18 years) with primary intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) or subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) from the National Inpatient Sample (2016–2020).

We evaluated differences in rates of in-hospital outcomes between the prepandemic (January 2016–February 2020) and pandemic (March–December 2020) periods using segmented logistic regression models.

We used multivariable logistic regression to evaluate differences in mortality between patients admitted from April to December 2020, with and without COVID-19, and those admitted from April to December 2019.

Stratified analyses were conducted among patients residing in low-income and high-income zip codes, as well as among patients with extreme loss of function (E-LoF) and those with minor to major loss of function (MM-LoF).

RESULTS: Overall, 309 965 patients with ICH (47% female, 56% low income) and 112 210 patients with SAH (62% female, 55% low income) were analysed.

Prepandemic, ICH mortality decreased by ~1% per month (adjusted OR, 95% CI: 0.99 (0.99 to 1.00); p<0.001).

However, during the pandemic, the overall ICH mortality rate increased, relative to prepandemic, by ~2% per month (1.02 (1.00 to 1.04), p<0.05) and ~4% per month (1.04 (1.01 to 1.07), p<0.001) among low-income patients.

There was no significant change in trend among high-income patients with ICH (1.00 (0.97 to 1.03)).

Patients with comorbid COVID-19 in 2020 had higher odds of mortality (versus 2019 cohort) only among patients with MM-LoF (ICH, 2.15 (1.12 to 4.16), and SAH, 5.77 (1.57 to 21.17)), but not among patients with E-LoF.

CONCLUSION: Sustained efforts are needed to address socioeconomic disparities in healthcare access, quality and outcomes during public health emergencies.