Kirkuk Journal of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background: Stroke is one of the important medical disorders encountered in medical practice in emergency departments, wards and as outpatients. This comes from being the 3rd commonest cause of mortality in developed countries and also in our society after ischemic heart disease (IHD) and cancer and the commonest cause of morbidity (those who survive get crippling, deficits and are physically disabled). Objective: The aim of this study was to assess stroke cases from different parametric aspects and compare it to other published data from nearby areas and internationally. Patients and Methods: Patients included in this cross-sectional study had been selected by randomly examining patients with stroke admitted to Azadi teaching hospital and kitkuk general hospital in Kirkuk governorate in addition to outpatients seen in the clinic during the period between the 1st of January 2011 to the 31st of December 2012. Results: This study had enrolled 90 patients (51 (56.7%) male patients and 39 (43.3%) female patients) with stroke. The peak age of occurrence of CVA was in patients > 50 years old. Family history of CVA was positive in 26 patients (28.9%). Distribution of the risk factors was as follows: Hypertension in 55 patients (61.1%) ,diabetes mellitus in 26 patients (28.9%), smoking habit in 32 patients (35.6%), hyperlipidaemia in 39 patients (43.3%), history of previous cardiovascular event in 49 patients (54.4%) in form of previous CVA in 15 patients (30.6%), ischemic heart disease in 27 patients (55.1%) and evidence of peripheral vascular disease in 7 patients (14.3%), particular heart disease in 25 patients (27.8%) in the form of atrial fibrillation (64%), congestive heart failure (16%), mitral valve disease (12%) and aortic valve disease (8%). Conclusion: This study has presented a profile of stroke patients in Kirkuk. Strokes occurred more frequently in men than in women and the risk increased with age. The major known risk factors were: hypertension (61.1%), previous cardiovascular diseases (54.4%), hyperlipidemia (43.3%), smoking (35.6%) and diabetes (28.9%). In most of the patients, stroke had a sudden onset (54.4%) with hemiplegia and speech defects being the most common presentations (73.3%) and (53.3%); respectively. Ischemic stroke was the commonest finding (43%) in the CT scan followed by the hemorrhagic type (25.8%).