Rural stroke patients have less access to newer treatments and substantially higher mortality rates than their urban counterparts, according to a newly published study in the journal Stroke.
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis examined records for more than 790,000 patients who had strokes in 2012-17. The study is the first of nationwide rural-urban comparison after modern stroke treatments became available. Past studies have focused on single medical centers or individual states, or were conducted before modern care was available.
The researchers found that the more rural the hospital, the higher the mortality rate, with 27 percent of patients in the most rural areas dying. They also found that more rural patients were less likely to get either of two advanced stroke treatments.
It's unrealistic to expect small, rural hospitals to be able to perform advanced, specialized procedures, senior author Karen Joynt Maddox, an assistant professor of medicine, said in a press release. But such hospitals must recognize when patients need more advanced treatment and transfer them quickly, and health systems don't have consistent, widespread procedures in place to do so.
"Our data suggest rural patients are missing out on access to more advanced stroke therapies and that action is needed to address these disparities and ensure that people can get the care they need, no matter where they live," Joynt Maddox said. "In this day and age, it’s unacceptable that people don’t have access to advanced care. But since stroke therapy is complex, solutions are not going to be one-size-fits-all. We need to think fundamentally differently about how we deliver stroke care in rural areas to begin reducing these disparities."
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis examined records for more than 790,000 patients who had strokes in 2012-17. The study is the first of nationwide rural-urban comparison after modern stroke treatments became available. Past studies have focused on single medical centers or individual states, or were conducted before modern care was available.
The researchers found that the more rural the hospital, the higher the mortality rate, with 27 percent of patients in the most rural areas dying. They also found that more rural patients were less likely to get either of two advanced stroke treatments.
It's unrealistic to expect small, rural hospitals to be able to perform advanced, specialized procedures, senior author Karen Joynt Maddox, an assistant professor of medicine, said in a press release. But such hospitals must recognize when patients need more advanced treatment and transfer them quickly, and health systems don't have consistent, widespread procedures in place to do so.
"Our data suggest rural patients are missing out on access to more advanced stroke therapies and that action is needed to address these disparities and ensure that people can get the care they need, no matter where they live," Joynt Maddox said. "In this day and age, it’s unacceptable that people don’t have access to advanced care. But since stroke therapy is complex, solutions are not going to be one-size-fits-all. We need to think fundamentally differently about how we deliver stroke care in rural areas to begin reducing these disparities."
from KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS https://ift.tt/3erXJJ7 Rural stroke survival rates worse, partly because rural hospitals don't quickly transfer patients to bigger hospitalsHealthy Care
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