Sex and Race-Ethnic Disparities in Door-to-CT Time in Acute Ischemic Stroke: The Florida Stroke Registry

Background Less than 40% of acute stroke patients have computed tomography (CT) imaging performed within 25 minutes of hospital arrival. We aimed to examine the race-ethnic and sex differences in door-to-CT (DTCT) <= 25 minutes in the FSR (Florida Stroke Registry). Methods and Results Data were collected from 2010 to 2018 for 63 265 patients with acute ischemic stroke from the FSR and secondary analysis was performed on 15 877 patients with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator-treated ischemic stroke. Generalized estimating equation models were used to determine predictors of DTCT <= 25. DTCT <= 25 was achieved in 56% of cases of suspected acute stroke, improving from 36% in 2010 to 72% in 2018. Women (odds ratio [OR], 0.90; 95% CI, 0.87-0.93) and Black (OR, 0.88; CI, 0.84-0.94) patients who had strokes were less likely, and Hispanic patients more likely (OR, 1.07; CI, 1.01-1.14), to achieve DTCT <= 25. In a secondary analysis among intravenous tissue plasminogen activator-treated patients, 81% of patients achieved DTCT <= 25. In this subgroup, women were less likely to receive DTCT <= 25 (0.85, 0.77-0.94) whereas no significant differences were observed by race or ethnicity. Conclusions In the FSR, there was considerable improvement in acute stroke care metric DTCT <= 25 in 2018 in comparison to 2010. However, sex and race-ethnic disparities persist and require further efforts to improve performance and reduce these disparities.