Clinical Pattern of Stroke and Distributions According to Age, Gender and Potential Risk Factors

Background: Stroke with mortality rate up to 25% is a fatal clinical syndrome. Most common risk factors are Hypertension, smoking, family history of stroke and diabetes mellitus. The objective was to study the pattern of brain strokes, areas and vascular territories of brain affected as per computerized tomography scan (CT scan) findings and risk factors in stroke patients admitted in Allied hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Allied hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC), Rawalpindi from September 2016 to February 2017 after taking ethical approval from Institutional Research Forum (IRF). All diagnosed cases of Stroke (Ischemic stroke or Hemorrhagic stroke) on the basis of Computerized Tomography Scan (CT-Scan) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) admitted to Medical Units of Allied Hospitals of RMC were included in the study irrespective of their age and gender. A Structured Questionnaire designed according to the objectives of this study was used for data collection. SPSS (Version-22) for windows was used for analysis through frequencies, percentages and cross tabulations. Result: Out of 200 diagnosed cases of stroke 115 (57.5%) were males and 85 (42.5%) were females. Mean age of patients was 53.73 years. Regarding the types of stroke, predominance of ischemic stroke 121 (60.5%) was seen as compared to hemorrhagic stroke which constitutes of 73 (36.5%) of the cases and the remaining 6 (3%) were the cases where both types of stroke were diagnosed based on CT scan reports. Male predominance 66 (54.54%) was seen in Ischemic stroke as well as in Hemorrhagic stroke 48(65.75%) as compared to females (Ischemic stroke 55 (45.50%) and Hemorrhagic stroke 25 (34.24%).Most common vascular territory involved in all types of stroke was of middle cerebral artery 115 (57.5%). Among Hemorrhagic stroke subarachnoid hemorrhage 49 (67.1%) was the most common site. In our study most common potential risk factors were Hypertension 115 ...