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

A retrospective analysis of 254 acute stroke cases admitted to two university hospitals in Beirut: classification and associated factors. Funct Neurol. 2017 Jan/Mar;32(1):41-48 Authors: Lahoud N, Abbas MH, Salameh P, Saleh N, Abes S, Hosseini H, Gebeily S Abstract Lebanon is a developing country where the prevalence of stroke subtypes and their correlation with risk factors have not been studied, even though stroke management is an ongoing major national healthcare challenge. In a retrospective study conducted in two university hospitals, data were collected on all stroke cases admitted in 2012 and 2013. Ischemic strokes were then classified according to a modified TOAST classification. A total of 254 inpatients (mean age 68.41 years ±13.34, 55.1% males) was included in the study; of these, 15% had had a hemorrhagic stroke and was therefore excluded. Conversely to findings from studies in other Arab and Asian countries, where small vessel disease is the most frequent subtype, our study showed a predominance of large artery atherosclerosis (53.5%) which, in comparison with other subtypes, was found to be associated with dyslipidemia (OR= 3.82, 95% CI= [1.76-8.28]; p=0.001). Cardioembolic stroke and small vessel disease were found to be positively associated with aging and living in Beirut, respectively. Larger studies are needed to explain these findings. PMID: 28380323 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Functional Neurology - Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research