Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the onset-to-admission time for patients with acute cerebral infarction, determine the rate of late hospital admissions, and to explore factors associated with late hospitalization in the study subjects.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at Lam Dong General Hospital and Lam Dong II Hospital involving 253 patients and their family members diagnosed with acute cerebral infarction from July 2022 to April 2023.

Results: The median onset-to-hospitalization time was 5.6 hours (IQR: 3.3 – 13.0), ranging from a minimum of 0.4 hours and to a maximum 176 hours. Overall, 47.4% of patients were admitted to the hospital more than 6 hours after symptom onset. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed several factors significantly associated with delayed hospitalization (p<0.05), including: Education level below high school (OR = 3.4, 95% CI: 1.5 – 8.1; p<0.05); onset without limb weakness symptoms (OR = 3.6, 95% CI: 1.6 – 8.4; p<0.05); onset without perception disorder symptoms (OR = 3.0, 95% CI: 1.1 – 8.4; p<0.05); failure to seek help within the first hour (OR = 22.9, 95% CI: 8.3 – 63.2; p<0.001); and symptom onset during sleep (OR = 3.8, 95% CI: 1.3 – 10.0; p<0.05).

Conclusions: Nearly half of the patients were admitted to the hospital more than 6 hours after symptom onset. These findings highlight the need for public health initiatives to raise community awareness about stroke symptoms and the urgency of seeking immediate medical care, particularly for acute cerebral infarction.