Ying Xian

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Apart from respiratory complications, acute cerebrovascular disease (CVD) has been observed in some patients with COVID-19. Therefore, we described the clinical characteristics, laboratory features, treatment and outcomes of CVD complicating SARS-CoV-2 infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Demographic and clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, treatments and clinical outcomes were collected and analysed. Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of patients with COVID-19 with or without new-onset CVD were compared. RESULTS: Of 219 patients with COVID-19, 10 (4.6%) developed acute ischaemic stroke and 1 (0.5%) had intracerebral haemorrhage. COVID-19 with new onset of CVD were significantly older (75.7±10.8 years vs 52.1±15.3 years, p<0.001), more likely to present with severe COVID-19 (81.8% vs 39.9%, p<0.01) and were more likely to have cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes and medical history of CVD (all p<0.05). In addition, they were more likely to have increased inflammatory response and hypercoagulable state as reflected in C reactive protein (51.1 (1.3-127.9) vs 12.1 (0.1-212.0) mg/L, p<0.05) and D-dimer (6.9 (0.3-20.0) vs 0.5 (0.1-20.0) mg/L, p<0.001). Of 10 patients with ischemic stroke; 6 received antiplatelet treatment with aspirin or clopidogrel; and 3 of them died. The other four patients received anticoagulant treatment with enoxaparin and 2 of them died. As of 24 March 2020, six patients with CVD died (54.5%). CONCLUSION: Acute CVD is not uncommon in COVID-19. Our findings suggest that older patients with risk factors are more likely to develop CVD. The development of CVD is an important negative prognostic factor which requires further study to identify optimal management strategy to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

IMPORTANCE: The benefits of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are time dependent and guidelines recommend a door-to-needle (DTN) time of 60 minutes or less. However, studies have found that less than 30% of US patients are treated within this time window. TARGET: Stroke was designed as a national quality improvement initiative to improve DTN times for tPA administration in patients with AIS. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate DTN times for tPA administration and the proportion of patients with times of 60 minutes or less before and after initiation of a quality improvement initiative and to determine whether potential improvements in DTN times were associated with improvements in clinical outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: The TARGET: Stroke initiative disseminated 10 care strategies to achieve faster DTN times for tPA administration, provided clinical decision support tools, facilitated hospital participation, and encouraged sharing of best practices. This study included 71,169 patients with AIS treated with tPA (27,319 during the preintervention period from April 2003-December 2009 and 43,850 during the postintervention period from January 2010-September 2013) from 1030 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke participating hospitals (52.8% of total). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The DTN times for tPA administration of 60 minutes or less and in-hospital risk-adjusted mortality, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, ambulatory status at discharge, and discharge destination. RESULTS: Median DTN time for tPA administration declined from 77 minutes (interquartile range [IQR], 60-98 minutes) during the preintervention period to 67 minutes (IQR, 51-87 minutes) during the postintervention period (P < .001). The DTN times for tPA administration of 60 minutes or less increased from 26.5% (95% CI, 26.0%-27.1%) of patients during the preintervention period to 41.3% (95% CI, 40.8%-41.7%) during the postintervention period (P < .001). The DTN times of 60 minutes or less increased from 29.6% (95% CI, 27.8%-31.5%) of patients in the quarter immediately before the intervention (fourth quarter of 2009) to 53.3% (95% CI, 51.5%-55.2%) in the final postintervention quarter (third quarter of 2013) (P < .001). The annual rate of improvement in DTN times of 60 minutes or less increased from 1.36% (95% CI, 1.04%-1.67%) per year preintervention to 6.20% (95% CI, 5.58%-6.78%) per year postintervention (P < .001). In-hospital all-cause mortality improved significantly from the preintervention to the postintervention period (9.93% vs 8.25%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.89 [95% CI, 0.83-0.94], P < .001), symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage within 36 hours was less likely to occur (5.68% vs 4.68%; adjusted OR, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.76-0.91], P < .001), and discharge to home was more frequent (37.6% vs 42.7%; adjusted OR, 1.14 [95% CI, 1.09-1.19], P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Implementation of a national quality improvement initiative was associated with improved timeliness of tPA administration following AIS on a national scale, and this improvement was associated with lower in-hospital mortality and intracranial hemorrhage, along with an increase in the percentage of patients discharged home.

In Xuan Wei County, Yunnan Province, lung cancer mortality is among China's highest and, especially in females, is more closely associated with indoor burning of "smoky" coal, as opposed to wood or "smokeless" coal, than with tobacco smoking. Indoor air samples were collected during the burning of all three fuels. In contrast to wood and smokeless coal emissions, smoky coal emission has high concentrations of submicron particles containing mutagenic organics, especially in aromatic and polar fractions. These studies suggested an etiologic link between domestic smoky coal burning and lung cancer in Xuan Wei.

Importance: Randomized clinical trials suggest benefit of endovascular-reperfusion therapy for large vessel occlusion in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is time dependent, but the extent to which it influences outcome and generalizability to routine clinical practice remains uncertain. Objective: To characterize the association of speed of treatment with outcome among patients with AIS undergoing endovascular-reperfusion therapy. Design, Setting, and Participants: Retrospective cohort study using data prospectively collected from January 2015 to December 2016 in the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke nationwide US quality registry, with final follow-up through April 15, 2017. Participants were 6756 patients with anterior circulation large vessel occlusion AIS treated with endovascular-reperfusion therapy with onset-to-puncture time of 8 hours or less. Exposures: Onset (last-known well time) to arterial puncture, and hospital arrival to arterial puncture (door-to-puncture time). Main Outcomes and Measures: Substantial reperfusion (modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction score 2b-3), ambulatory status, global disability (modified Rankin Scale [mRS]) and destination at discharge, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH), and in-hospital mortality/hospice discharge. Results: Among 6756 patients, the mean (SD) age was 69.5 (14.8) years, 51.2% (3460/6756) were women, and median pretreatment score on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale was 17 (IQR, 12-22). Median onset-to-puncture time was 230 minutes (IQR, 170-305) and median door-to-puncture time was 87 minutes (IQR, 62-116), with substantial reperfusion in 85.9% (5433/6324) of patients. Adverse events were sICH in 6.7% (449/6693) of patients and in-hospital mortality/hospice discharge in 19.6% (1326/6756) of patients. At discharge, 36.9% (2132/5783) ambulated independently and 23.0% (1225/5334) had functional independence (mRS 0-2). In onset-to-puncture adjusted analysis, time-outcome relationships were nonlinear with steeper slopes between 30 to 270 minutes than 271 to 480 minutes. In the 30- to 270-minute time frame, faster onset to puncture in 15-minute increments was associated with higher likelihood of achieving independent ambulation at discharge (absolute increase, 1.14% [95% CI, 0.75%-1.53%]), lower in-hospital mortality/hospice discharge (absolute decrease, -0.77% [95% CI, -1.07% to -0.47%]), and lower risk of sICH (absolute decrease, -0.22% [95% CI, -0.40% to -0.03%]). Faster door-to-puncture times were similarly associated with improved outcomes, including in the 30- to 120-minute window, higher likelihood of achieving discharge to home (absolute increase, 2.13% [95% CI, 0.81%-3.44%]) and lower in-hospital mortality/hospice discharge (absolute decrease, -1.48% [95% CI, -2.60% to -0.36%]) for each 15-minute increment. Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with AIS due to large vessel occlusion treated in routine clinical practice, shorter time to endovascular-reperfusion therapy was significantly associated with better outcomes. These findings support efforts to reduce time to hospital and endovascular treatment in patients with stroke.