Linked Life Data

11917972

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/11917972

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
5
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-3-28
pubmed:abstractText
We prospectively verified whether an ad-hoc questionnaire administered by phone supports pre-hospital suspicion of stroke in order to reduce the time before care is given. From June 1996 to May 1997, physicians of the Emergency Medical Service in the area of Bergamo, Italy asked all people calling for a patient with symptoms and signs suggesting a cerebral vascular injury to immediately answer some questions on common symptoms and signs of stroke. The medical records of the patients hospitalized at Ospedali Riuniti of Bergamo were reviewed at the end of the study by a single neurologist, skilled in stroke management and blinded to the questionnaires. Sensitivity and specificity, in addition to positive and negative predictive values, of single questions versus final diagnosis were assessed. Logistic regression analysis was also performed to identify those questions useful to suspect strokes. We collected 143 valid questionnaires, related to 63 men and 80 women, aged 34-99 years (mean, 71.8 years). The question concerning headache had the lowest sensitivity and specificity, respectively 57.1% and 36.5%, and the question concerning leg palsy had the highest sensitivity and specificity, respectively 82.0% and 52.4%. Multivariate analysis identified questions on facial and leg palsy as independent predictors of a final diagnosis of stroke. A few questions on motor deficits proposed by emergency medical service operators may be useful in the pre-hospital identification of stroke patients. Concordance of any questions versus final diagnosis of stroke was, however, far to be satisfying. Thus, our experience supports the need for an educational program to improve the efficiency of a pre-hospital diagnosis of stroke.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Oct
pubmed:issn
1590-1874
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
22
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
357-61
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2001
pubmed:articleTitle
Experience with a questionnaire administered by emergency medical service for pre-hospital identification of patients with acute stroke.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Neurology, Ospedali Riuniti, Bergamo, Italy.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article