Arif Herekar, Saima Hilal.
Multicentre based study on stratification of modifiable risk factors in stroke.
Pak J Med Sci Jan ;24(4):853-6.

Objective: To study the frequency of modifiable risk factors in ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokes. Methodology: It is a prospective descriptive multicentre based study conducted in the neurology ward of Civil Hospital and Neuro Diagnostic Centre, Karachi from July 2007 to February 2008. A questionnaire was prepared in accordance with the objective of the study. It contained detailed history, neurological examination and investigations. Every patient enrolled in the study underwent either a CT Scan, an MRI or an MRA to establish the diagnosis of a stroke and establishing the cause of the stroke whether it was ischaemic or haemorrhagic. Risk factors for these patients and their age of onset was also studied. Results: Fifty patients with established diagnosis of stroke were selected; forty-three suffered from ischaemic stroke (86%) while seven fell into the category of haemorrhagic stroke (14%). Thirty-two (64%) patients had more than one risk factor. The age range of patients was from 17 to 80 years. Out of 50 patients twenty-nine (58%) were males and twenty-one (42%) were females. The commonest risk factor of ischemic stroke was hypertension (32.61%) followed by diabetes (23.91%), hyperlipidaemia (23.91%) & ischaemic heart disease (19.57%) where as in haemorrhagic stroke it was also high blood pressure (71.4%) and aneurysm (28.57%). Conclusion: Majority of the patients studied had one or more modifiable risk factors. The commonest risk factor was hypertension 32.61% followed by diabetes 23.91%.

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