Association of hospital arrival time with modified rankin scale at discharge in patients with acute cerebral infarction.

This study evaluated the time interval from the development or recognition of a symptom to hospital arrival and investigated its association with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at discharge in patients with acute cerebral infarction. A registry was established with ischemic stroke patients admitted to an academic medical center in Korea from January 2005 to March 2009. The time interval between symptom onset and hospital arrival was recorded for each patient and analyzed along with the patient's clinical characteristics and mRS at discharge. Regardless of initial severity at admission, mRS was significantly different between two groups of hospital arrival: within 3 h and beyond 3 h. Multiple regression analysis also showed more positive mRS scores for patients within the 3-hour arrival, controlling for other significant factors. The findings provided patients' initiatives for early hospital arrival.