PATTERN OF AND LOCALIZATION OF STROKE IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN NORTH WESTERN NIGERIA: A REVIEW OF 540 PATIENTS

Balarabe S. A.* and Jamila M.

ABSTRACT

Background: Stroke is a major global health problem. It has been estimated that one out of six persons will have a stroke in their lifetime, and every six seconds someone somewhere dies from stroke, while about six million people die every year from a stroke. In 2010 about 5·9 million stroke-related deaths were reported and about 39.4 million Disability adjusted life years (DALYs) were lost due to ischemic stroke. These ranked stroke as the second most common cause of death and the third most common cause of acquired disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). This study aimed to determine the pattern of and localization of lesion among patients with stroke In Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Northwestern Nigeria. Material and Method: Medical files of Consecutive stroke patients presenting at a tertiary public hospital in Sokoto Northwestern Nigeria, over a period of six years (from January 2010 to December 2015) were retrospectively reviewed. All collected data were cross-checked for consistency and statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0 (Chicago IL USA) statistical software package. Means of two groups were compared using student's t-test while proportions were compared using chi-squire with Yates correction where appropriate. Any p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: A total of five hundred and forty (540) stroke patients were included in this study. The ages of the patients ranged from 15years to 99years with stroke occurring highest among people between 50–59years. The mean age was 56.85, SD± 14.40. Among 540 patients 271(50.2%), were males and 269 (49.8%) females, with male to female ratio of 1.01:1, five hundred and five, [505(93.5%)] had hemispheric stroke, out of these, 307 (56.9%) had left hemispheric stroke, 229 (42.4%) had right hemispheric stroke, while 4(0.7%) had Bilateral hemispheric involvement. out of the remaining 35 cases, 31 (5.8%) had Subcortical lesion and 4(0.7%) were brain stem strokes. Most common type of stroke was ischemic 462(85.5%) with hemorrhagic type accounting for the remaining 78(14.5%). Conclusions: This study supported previous hospital and community based studies that reported incidence and prevalence of stroke among both blacks and Non-blacks. More importantly, this study found trends toward increasing stroke incidence among relatively young individuals. This is of great public health significance in view of the fact that, strokes in young individuals have significant potential for lifetime burden of disability.

Keywords: cerebral infarction, Ischemic stroke, Localization of lesion, Hemorrhagic stroke.