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Introduction: Stroke – a cardiovascular disease caused by the interruption of the blood
supply to the brain – is the 3rd cause the death in the World, and the 1st in Portugal.
Aware of this burden, the program ‘Via Verde do AVC’ was implemented in Portugal, with
the objective of reducing mortality by stroke, specially on ischemic stroke patients aged
between 18 and 80 years old.
Objectives: This thesis focus on the performance of ‘Via Verde do AVC’, and aims to
assess whether the program has achieved significant health gains, at reasonable costs.
Methodology: Individual level in-hospital data on stroke admissions, and regional level
stroke mortality rates are studied, in order to assess the program’s impact on mortality. For
in-hospital analysis, the impact is measured as a whole, as well as breakdown by expertise
level and/or year. In the regional analysis, simple and weighted regressions are performed.
Results: The regressions performed do not show statistically significant impact of ‘Via
Verde do AVC’ on ischemic stroke mortality. The health status of the patient at arrival
(measured by the number of diagnosis), as well as the hospital are the most relevant
explanatory variables. For regional analysis, there are significant regional asymmetries in
stroke mortality, and time has also been a critical factor for mortality reduction.
Conclusions: There is little reason to believe that the program decreases mortality before
or during a hospital stroke episode. Moreover, there are some aspects of the program that
should be improved, namely Promotion, Training, and Post-hospital Care.