Erasmia Broussalis, Alexander B. Kunz, Gernot Luthringshausen, Gunther Ladurner, Eugen Trinka and Monika Killer
Background: Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the main cause of long term disability in western societies.
Methods: In the 5 years 2005 to 2009, 2872 ischemic stroke patients were admitted to our stroke unit and registered in a national database. The data was analyzed retrospectively.
Results: 50.8% of the patients were women. The mean age of the patients was 69.5 [18 – 97]. The mean NIHS at admission was 7.2 [0 - 40], at discharge 4.9 [0 - 37]. 22.9 % of all admitted stroke patients were treated with IV thrombolysis. Women treated with thrombolysis were significantly older than men (mean age 73.7, range 28 – 97 vs. 68.2 ranges 18 – 89, p< 0.001). Although a highly significant improvement of NIHS was seen in both genders after thrombolytic treatment, women had trends towards less gain in thrombolysis
Conclusions: In a clinic with high turnover rates and a thrombolysis rate of 22.9% we could confirm that patients of both genders benefit from thrombolytic treatment, whereby women did not show such a significant improvement most likely due to older age compared to men.