RESUMO
Stroke is the third most common cause of death. The objective of this study was to find out the case fatality rate of first-ever stroke in Erbil city. This cross-sectional study included 228 first-ever stroke patients hospitalized to teaching hospitals in Erbil city from January, 1[st] 2009 to August, 31st 2009. Stroke was diagnosed by the consultant internist or neurologist and confirmed by brain CT-scan. Patients were followed-up and one month case-fatality rate was calculated. The one month case-fatality rate was 23.7% with a higher proportion of deaths occurred in females [26.4%] than in males [21.2%] [P= 0.358]. The case-fatality increased with age [P= 0.019]; around 75% of deaths occurred in the 7[th] and 8th decades of life and more than 95% occurred among those 60 years and more. More deaths occurred from haemorrhagic [31.3%] than ischaemic [20.7%] strokes [P= 0.093]. The mean +/- SD ages of dead and alive were 68.56 +/- 11.52 and 61.32 +/- 12.91 years, respectively [P=0.001]. Multiple logistic regression revealed significant association of stroke outcome with age [P= 0.037] and atrial fibrillation [P=0.001]. The one month case-fatality rate was relatively comparable to that reported in other developing countries
RESUMO
Stroke is a worldwide health problem. This study was carried out to find out the risk factors associated with stroke in Erbil city. A hospital based case-control study was carried out in Erbil city from January, 1[st] 2009 to June, 30[th] 2009. The sample included [173 cases and 173 controls] cases admitted to Erbil teaching hospitals with first-ever stroke diagnosed by the consultant internist or neurologists and confirmed by brain CT-scan. Sex and age-matched [ +/- 5 years] patients admitted to the same hospital, who do not have stroke, were taken as a control group. The mean +/- SD ages of cases and controls were 62.2 +/- 13.4 and 61.54 +/- 13.16 years, respectively with a male: female ratio of 1.1:1. Nearly 70% were ischaemic and 30% were haemorrhagic. A slightly more than half [51.45%] of strokes occurred in the 7[th] and 8[th] decades of life. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed statistically significant association between smoking [P<0.001], exercise [P<0.001], hypertension [P=0.001], family history of stroke [P=0.004], BMI [P=0.012] and PCV% [P<0.001] with stroke. However multiple logistic regressions of risk factors for ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokes separately revealed that diabetes was significantly associated with ischaemic stroke [P=0.025] while body mass index was significantly associated with haemorrhagic stroke [P=0.001]. Majority of stroke patients were of older age. The most frequent risk factor among stroke cases were lack of exercise, overweight and obesity and hypertension