Health Care Encounters Prior to Hospitalization for Cerebral Venous Thrombosis Patients

Background: Unlike other causes of stroke, symptoms in cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) can be nonspecific at onset with gradual worsening over time. To explore potential opportunities for earlier diagnosis, we analyzed healthcare interactions in the week prior to hospitalization for patients admitted with incident CVT in British Columbia (BC).

Methods: We constructed a population-based cohort (2000-2017) using linked patient-level administrative data to identify patients aged ≥18 diagnosed with CVT in BC. We used descriptive analysis to describe the frequency and types of healthcare encounters within the 7 and 3 days prior to hospitalization. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was performed to examine risk factors associated with prior encounters.

Results: The cohort included 554 patients (mean age 50.9 years, 55.4% female). Within the 7 days prior to CVT hospitalization, 57.9% of patients had ≥1 outpatient encounter and 5.6% had ≥1 inpatient encounter. In the 3 days prior to hospitalization, 46.8% of patients had ≥1 outpatient encounter and 2.0% had ≥1 inpatient encounter. Women more frequently had outpatient interactions within 7 days (64.8% women vs. 35.2% men, p < 0.001) and 3 days (51.8% vs. 48.2%, p = 0.01) before admission. Common provider specialties for outpatient encounters were general practice (58.0%), emergency (8.3%) and neurology (5.7%). Females had higher odds (OR = 1.79) of having ≥1 outpatient encounter after adjusting for confounding.

Conclusions: Within our Canadian cohort, over half of patients had a healthcare encounter within 7 days before their hospitalization with incident CVT. Women more commonly had an outpatient encounter preceding hospital admission.