Types, risk profiles, and outcomes of stroke patients in a tertiary teaching hospital in northern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Stroke is becoming an increasingly serious public health issue in Ethiopia and the paucity of data specific to the Ethiopian setting is limiting the formulation of an appropriate response. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe types, risk factors, management patterns, and outcomes among stroke patients treated at a tertiary teaching hospital in northern Ethiopia from 2012 to 2014. DESIGN: Medical record review with a standardized abstraction tool was used to obtain all data for this retrospective case study. Data was entered in EpiInfo Version 7 and analyzed using STATA12. Descriptive statistics were used to explore differences among stroke subtypes and compare with other sub-Saharan African countries. RESULTS: Among 142 stroke patients (mean age 62.8 ± 15.6 years, 54.2% male), ischemic stroke was the most frequent subtype (55.6%) followed by intracerebral hemorrhage (32.4%) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (5.6%). 38.0% of patients had pre-existing hypertension and 4.9% had pre-existing diabetes, and most were not on any treatment. 66.2% of patients were hypertensive at hospital arrival and nearly all presented with focal neurological deficit. Less than 10% arrived at the hospital within 3 h of stroke; nearly half (47.9%) were delayed over 24 h. 76.1% received CT Scan. We observed 12.0% in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Ischemic stroke was the predominant form of stroke, although to a lesser degree than in studies from developed countries. Under-diagnosing of hypertension and other risk factors and delayed presentation at the hospital are the major challenges to address.