Symptoms presented during emergency telephone calls for patients with spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage

Asger Sonne*, Sarita Egholm, Laurits Elgaard, Niklas Breindahl, Alice Herrlin Jensen, Vagn Eskesen, Freddy Lippert, Frans Boch Waldorff, Nicolai Lohse, Lars Simon Rasmussen

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

3 Citationer (Scopus)
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Abstract

Background: A spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is one of the most critical neurological emergencies a dispatcher can face in an emergency telephone call. No study has yet investigated which symptoms are presented in emergency telephone calls for these patients. We aimed to identify symptoms indicative of SAH and to determine the sensitivity of these and their association (odds ratio, OR) with SAH. Methods: This was a nested case–control study based on all telephone calls to the medical dispatch center of Copenhagen Emergency Medical Services in a 4-year time period. Patients with SAH were identified in the Danish National Patient Register; diagnoses were verified by medical record review and their emergency telephone call audio files were extracted. Audio files were replayed, and symptoms extracted in a standardized manner. Audio files of a control group were replayed and assessed as well. Results: We included 224 SAH patients and 609 controls. Cardiac arrest and persisting unconsciousness were reported in 5.8% and 14.7% of SAH patients, respectively. The highest sensitivity was found for headache (58.9%), nausea/vomiting (46.9%) and neck pain (32.6%). Among conscious SAH patients these symptoms were found to have the strongest association with SAH (OR 27.0, 8.41 and 34.0, respectively). Inability to stand up, speech difficulty, or sweating were reported in 24.6%, 24.2%, and 22.8%. The most frequent combination of symptoms was headache and nausea/vomiting, which was reported in 41.6% of SAH patients. More than 90% of headaches were severe, but headache was not reported in 29.7% of conscious SAH patients. In these, syncope was described by 49.1% and nausea/vomiting by 37.7%. Conclusion: Headache, nausea/vomiting, and neck pain had the highest sensitivity and strongest association with SAH in emergency telephone calls. Unspecific symptoms such as inability to stand up, speech difficulty or sweating were reported in 1 out of 5 calls. Interestingly, 1 in 3 conscious SAH patients did not report headache. Trial registration NCT03980613 (www.clinicaltrials.gov).

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer118
TidsskriftScandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine
Vol/bind29
Antal sider10
ISSN1757-7241
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

Bibliografisk note

Correction to. DOI 10.1186/s13049-021-00962-7

Funding Information:
The study was funded by the non-profit organization Trygfonden. The organization was not involved in any parts of the design, conduction or interpretation of the study. Neither was the organization involved in writing the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

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