Community socioeconomic status and prehospital times in acute stroke and transient ischemic attack: do poorer patients have longer delays from 911 call to the emergency department?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Timely access to medical treatment is critical for patients with acute stroke because acute therapies must be given very quickly after symptom onset. We examined the effect of socioeconomic status on prehospital delays in stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients within a large, biracial population.

METHODS: By screening all local hospital ICD-9 codes 430 to 436, all stroke and TIA patients were identified during the calendar year of 1999. Cases must have used emergency medical services (EMS), lived at home, had their stroke at home, and had documented times of the 911 call and arrival to the emergency department. Socioeconomic status was estimated using economic data regarding the geocoded home residence census tract.

RESULTS: Only 38% of stroke and TIA patients used EMS. There were 978 cases of stroke and TIA included in this analysis. The mean times were call to arrival on scene 6.5 minutes, on-scene time 14.1 minutes, and transport time 13.1 minutes. Lower community socioeconomic status was associated with all 3 EMS time intervals; however, all time differences were small: the largest difference was 5 minutes.

CONCLUSIONS: Within our population, living in a poorer area does not appear to delay access to acute care for stroke in a clinically significant way. We did find small, statistically significant delays in prehospital times that were associated with poorer communities, black race, and increasing age. However, delays related to public recognition of stroke symptoms, and limited use of 911, are likely much more important than these small delays that occur with EMS systems.