RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Impact of COVID-19 on the rate of stroke cases at a tertiary hospital in Makkah, Saudi Arabia JF Neurosciences Journal JO Neurosciences (Riyadh) FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City SP 158 OP 162 DO 10.17712/nsj.2021.2.20200141 VO 26 IS 2 A1 Ebaa T. Samkari A1 Amal M. Alkhotani A1 Mohammed I. Siddiqui YR 2021 UL http://nsj.org.sa/content/26/2/158.abstract AB Objectives: To assess and quantify the impact COVID-19 has had thus far on ischemic stroke admission rate and severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score) at a single tertiary center in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.Methods: This is a retrospective analysis performed on admitted cases with definitive final diagnoses of transient ischemic attack (TIA) and ischemic stroke at King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah between January 1, 2020 and July 2020.Results: Sixty-nine patients were included in our study, 41 of whom presented at our facility before the pandemic and 29 during the pandemic. No statistical significance was observed between rate of admission, stroke severity, and rate of thrombolysis before the COVID-19 pandemic and after the outbreak. We observed a reduction of mean arrival time after the pandemic began, as well as a reduction of hospital stay days.Conclusion: A 29% reduction of admission secondary to acute ischemic stroke was noted during the pandemic. However, COVID-19 did not affect acute stroke care at our institute. The study is limited because of its small sample size, as we assessed just one medical center.