Characteristics of Stroke in Hofuf, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Stroke is a common neurological disorder that is encountered in most hospitals in both developed and developing countries. This two-year study was designed to show the characteristics of the problem at the King Fahad Hospital, Hofuf, Saudi Arabia. Patients and Method: This was a prospective study of all Saudi stroke patients admitted to the medical wards in the study period. All patients were assessed individually by one of the two available neurologists. Data was collected on pre-designed protocol, and analysis was performed using tables and figures, and EpiInfo ® computer software. Results: The 329 Saudi patients studied fulfilled the criteria for stroke. The male:female ratio of the patients was 1:1, and their ages ranged between 42 and 92 years (mean 62.8±11.1) for males, and between 20 and 100 years (mean 59.6±15.4) for females. The relative frequencies of stroke subtypes were ischemic infarcts (79%), of which 46% were lacunar infarcts, intracerebral hemorrhage (18.8%), and subarachnoid hemorrhage (2.2%). The most common risk factor was concomitant hypertension with diabetes mellitus (40.4%), hypertension alone (24.9%), diabetes alone (11.6%), atrial fibrillation (5.8%), other cardiac factors (5.5%), transient ischemic attack (TIA) and prior stroke (2.1% each), and smoking (1.8%). No risk factor was detected in 5.8% of the patients. The overall inhospital mortality was 10.0%, with a significant male preponderance. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that stroke is a common neurological condition in the Al-Hassa region of the Kingdom. The male:female ratio was dissimilar from that observed in other parts of Saudi Arabia. The study also showed that hypertension with diabetes constituted a potent risk factor. Sickle cell anemia was not found to be a risk factor. The case fatality was low and both the incidence and mortality showed seasonal preference. We believe that there is a need to establish a Stroke Register at the King Fahad Hospital at Hofuf for the Al-Hassa region.

A retrospective analysis of 254 acute stroke cases admitted to two university hospitals in Beirut: classification and associated factors

“…Lower rates are found in developed countries: 23% in Norway and 26% in Japan (Turin et al, 2010;Ihle-Hansen et al, 2012). Moreover, the frequency of AF (18.5%) among the stroke patients in our sample is high compared with values recorded in other Arab countries (El-Sayed et al, 1999;Hamad et al, 2001;Ashkanani et al, 2013;Al-Asadi and Habib, 2014), but lower than the frequency in Western countries, where the population is older; AF is indeed known to increase with age (Ihle-Hansen et al, 2012). With regard to the ischemic stroke subtypes defined according to the modified TOAST classification criteria, LA was the most common, accounting for 53.5% of all ischemic strokes, a rate higher than in published data.…”

Prognosis of Stroke Patients who need Mechanical Ventilator

“…In the current study (67.3±5.3) years was the mean age of stroke patients which is concordant with many studies done in developing countries (El Sayed et al, 1999;Cheung et al, 2007;Dalal et al, 2005) also with AlAsadi et al, studies which is done in Basrah in Iraq in 2014Iraq in (2014.More than half of the patients was within the age group 60-69 and the male was more predominant than female which is similar to that found by a previous study done in Iraq by Sulaiman, in 2002Sulaiman, in (2002, Moreover it is similar to the Minelli study in Brazil in 2007Brazil in (2007 and with Mihalka in 2001in West Ukrain (2001. More than 4/5 th (80.7%) of the stroke patients in the present study were ischemic type and the rest was hemorrhagic consistent with that registered by Hamad et al, in Qatar in 2001(2001 were 80% of the stroke patients was ischemic type.…”

“…More than 4/5 th (80.7%) of the stroke patients in the present study were ischemic type and the rest was hemorrhagic consistent with that registered by Hamad et al, in Qatar in 2001(2001 were 80% of the stroke patients was ischemic type. Also it is similar to that registered in a study done in Saudia Arabia by El-Sayed (El Sayed et al, 1999) in 1999. This may be explained by that most Arabic Gulf people are adopting Western lifestyle and dietary habits, including increased fat intake, cigarette smoking and decreased physical activity.…”

Stroke in Arab countries: A systematic literature review

“…Thirty-one articles were included from the following Arab countries: Saudi Arabia (n=16) [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], Qatar (n=4) [21][22][23][24], Libya (n=3) [25][26][27], Kuwait (n=2) [28,29], Jordan (n=1) [30], United Arab Emirates (n=1) [31], Bahrain (n=1) [32], Tunisia (n=1) [33], Iraq (n=1) [34] and Sudan (n=1) [35] (Fig. 2).…”

“…One study from Saudi Arabia showed an equal ratio of males to females [18] and another from Kuwait showed a slightly higher female preponderance at 51.7% [28]. The clinical series showed a mean age of stroke within the sixth and seventh decade (varying from 58.5 to 63) [6,15,18,21,22,[29][30][31].…”