Doctors are noticing disturbing trends among some younger patients infected with the novel coronavirus, one if which is a sudden stroke.
"When this pandemic started, we noticed that there is an increased incidence of COVID-19 positive patients presenting with a stroke," Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Dr. Pascal Jabbour said.
Dr. Jabbour told KCBS Radio that about 40% of stroke patients who came to the hospital for treatment between March 20 and April 10 had contracted the novel coronavirus.
What is even more concerning is the age range of some people with COVID-19 who have strokes.
"We've seen really young patients that usually don't have strokes presenting with strokes," Dr. Jabbour said. "Those patients are young with no risk factors."
Dr. Jabbour has written a paper on the connection, currently under review.
Doctors are experimenting with various treatments, thinking of giving blood thinners to some COVID-19 patients as a preventative method.
Dr. Jabbour said doctors are also seeing some patients waiting to seek treatment for stroke symptoms, especially if they don't know they have COVID-19 because they are afraid to go to the hospital right now. Other physicians are seeing the same trend, including Dr. Junaid Khan with Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland.
He said there has been a significant decrease in the number of patients with serious ailments who come into his ER for treatment.
"The patients that are coming are coming in later," Dr. Khan said. "They have been ignoring their symptoms. And when we ask them why, they were really afraid of coming to the hospital because they were afraid they were going to get COVID-19."
Dr. Khan added that hospitals are taking precautions to treat people who need to be seen safely.
"Everyone that comes into the hospital is provided a mask," Dr. Khan said. "All the staff is wearing a mask. We have proper isolation techniques. So, if they're having these symptoms of a stroke, time lost is brain lost."
Both doctors said there is a very small window of time to treat strokes and anyone experiencing symptoms should seek treatment immediately.
