Men get better acute stroke care than women in UK hospital study

In a study of over 83,000 hospital admissions for acute stroke, men were more likely to get better care than women, according to findings presented at the 2018 European Stroke Organisation Conference cited by Medscape Medical News.

The findings stem from 83,484 admissions for acute stroke between April 2016 and March 2017. All admissions were prospectively recorded in the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme, a national quality stroke register in the U.K. The patient population was 49 percent women.

Men were more likely to experience door-to-needle time of less than 60 minutes; arrival at a stroke unit before four hours; and use of thrombectomy, a surgical procedure to remove a blood clot from an artery or vein, than women were, the findings revealed.

Men also were more likely to receive a physiotherapy assessment within 72 hours and early supported discharge when compared to the women in the study.

"There were no quality measures that favored females," George Dunn, senior project coordinator of the audit programme at the Royal College of Physicians in London, told Medscape Medical News.

The findings are "worrying," Mr. Dunn said. "We think more research should be done to make sure the data are consistent, and if so, steps should be taken to rectify the situation, because clearly this is unfair."

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