To investigate stroke hospitalization and related risk factors before and after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

SARS-CoV-2 infection has shown to increase stroke and other neurological complications in patients. However, trends in stroke hospitalization among patients with non-infection has not been characterized.

A retrospective analysis on 2647 patients hospitalized for a neurological problem and negative SARS-CoV-2 infection between December 2018 and March 2021 was conducted. 610 patients had a primary problem of stroke and were categorized as pre-pandemic or pandemic if occurred prior to or after February 2020 respectively. 458 patients had an ischemic stroke while 114 had a hemorrhagic stroke. The prevalence of obesity, hypertension (HTN), diabetes (DM), stroke related paralysis, and death prior to and during the pandemic were compared.

There was no difference in the prevalence of overall stroke in the pre-pandemic and pandemic groups (24% vs 22%, p>0.05). Among those with stroke, no significant difference in prevalence of DM, HF, CKD, HTN was found between the pre-pandemic and pandemic timeline. However, there is a significant increase of patients who are obese presenting with stroke (5.7% vs 17%, p<0.0001); these patients also had a significant increase in stroke related paralysis pre-pandemic vs pandemic (55% vs 80%, p<0.05). In those with ischemic stroke, patients under 65 years increased (47% vs 56%, p=0.052) after the pandemic.

Our study demonstrated an increased severity and incidence of obesity in stroke patients during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We observed a trend toward younger patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke with reaching significance.