Certainty Of Stroke Symptom Onset Study (COSSO)

On the day after admission, the patients will be re-interviewed by a stroke neurologist during the rounding in the morning. First the history of symptom onset will be re-taken once more, focusing on the presentation of each neurological symptom. Then the history taken from the emergency department including the onset time will be presented to the patient, and the patient will be asked to choose the certainty for the onset time between 1 and 5.

The symptom onset judged by the neurologist first assessed at the emergency department will be compared to that of the stroke neurologist re-interviewed after admission. If any discrepancy exists, the history of the patient will be re-written by the stroke neurologist and then reviewed by five experienced stroke neurologist. The judgment on stroke onset and the certainty of each stroke neurologist will be compared.

Clinical variables will be obtained from the patient. The informant will be the patient. Demographics including the age and sex will be obtained. Additionally the year of education will be investigated. The situation of stroke onset will be obtained in detail. What the patient was doing immediately before the onset, the place, and the person accompanied with will also be investigated. These will be described on the re-written history which will be reviewed by the five stroke neurologists. The conventional risk factors for stroke and the stroke etiology according to the TOAST classification will be acquired. The initial severity of stroke will also be obtained evaluated by National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). On the second interview and the re-written history, the symptoms will be investigated in detail. First as an open question, and then targeting the stroke symptoms and the onset of them will be asked. The symptom includes 1) weakness, 2) facial palsy 3) dysarthria 4) ataxia 5) visual field defect 6) sensory change 7) dizziness 8) headache and 9) Other non-specific symptoms. The onset time and the sequence will be investigated by each symptom.

The result will be analyzed in two view points. First the discrepancy rate between clinicians will be first examined, and the clinical variables making difference will be analyzed. finally a protocol for systemized history taking of stroke onset will be used, and the change will be analyzed before and after the release of protocol.

In the second point of veiw, the certainty of patient will be analyzed. The clinical variables will be compared according to the certainty of patient on symptom onset.