Risk Assessment for Stroke – A Retrospective Study in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Stroke is one of the major challenges facing medicine with a scaring statistics of being the third leading cause of mortality world wide after heart disease and cancer, and primary cause of serious long term disability. Identification . and management of risk factors remains pivotal in reducing morbidity and mortality from stroke A retrospective study was conducted with the objective of identifying various risk factors for stroke and assess the role of the risk factors for stroke in the South Indian population. A total of 120 patients with completed stroke or cerebrovascular accident were taken up for the study. The mean age of the patients was 62.6 ± 14.46 (range 25 to 90 years). There were 83 (69.02%) males (mean age 61.3±26.9) and 37 (30.83%) females (mean age 63.25±17). 32.5% patients (25 males & 14 females) were in the age group of 65-75 years. Out of 120 patients, 104 patients (86.7%) were hypertensive. Of these, 83 (79.8%) had a past history of hypertension with a mean systolic and diastolic BP of 153 ± 22.9 and 92.4 ± 12.5 mm Hg. 62 patients (51.7%) had a previous history of diabetes mellitus 49 patients (40.8%) in this study group had dyslipidemia. 18 patients (15%) had a prior history of stroke. 54 (45%) were chronic smokers and 16 male patients (13.3%) were alcoholics. Our findings strongly recommend that effective control of blood pressure, glucose and smoking cessation may be important avenues for stroke prevention in this population.

Keywords: stroke; incidence; prognosis; risk factors