Muhammad Saleem Barech, Syed Mohammad Sadiq, Abdul Kareem Zarkoon, Gulan Dam, Kaleem Ullah.
Risk factors for ischemic stroke in patients attending a tertiary hospital in Quetta.
Pak J Neurological Sci Jan ;5(1):1-5.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to see the pattern of risk factors in patient with ischemic stroke. Methodology: 156 patients with ischemic stroke were selected from the neuro-medicine OPD of Bolan Medical College Hospital. The basic demographic data (age, gender, family history, smoking history) and blood pressure were recorded of all patients. They were advised to complete the necessary investigation, such as CT-brain (plain or with contrast), MRI-brain if needed, blood sugar, lipid profile, CBC, ECG, Echo, Doppler sonography for carotid artery. Result: 94 (60.3%) patients were male and 62 (39.7%) were female. The mean ± SD age of the study patient was 61 ± 9.7. In this study 116 (74.4%) patients had a single risk factor whereas the remaining 36 (23%) patients had at least two risk factors and only 4 (2.6%) patients were classified as unknown etiology. Out of 156 patients 62.9% of study subjects were hypertensive, 26.3% were diabetic, 14.1% had dislipidemia, 12.2% were having IHD, 7.84% subjects had positive family history, 10.4% were active smokers, 2.05% with polycythemia and only 1.21% of study subjects were having carotid stenosis. In this study 29 (18.6%) patients were having aphasia. The mean ± SD age of patients with aphasia was 65 ± 11 years and in non-aphasia patients was 60 ± 91 years, the mean difference (5.17 years) between these two groups was statistically significant (P=0.009). Also the difference in proportion of normal and aphasic patient among the elderly was statistically significant (P=0.01). Furthermore, 24 (82.8%) patients with aphasia were hypertensive and the remaining 5 (17.2%) patients were normotensive. Hypertensive patient had significantly higher risk of aphasia compared to normotensive (P=0.03). However no significant difference was found among patients with aphasia related to DM, IHD, Hyperlipidemia and polycythemia. Conclusion: Overall 62.9% of study subjects were hypertensive, 26.3% were diabetic, 14.1% had dislipidemia, 12.2% were having IHD, 7.84% subjects had positive family history, 10.4% were active smokers, 2.05% with polycythemia and only 1.21% of study subjects were having carotid stenosis respectively. In this study 29 (18.6%) patients were having aphasia. Advance age and hypertension were significant contributors for aphasia.

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