Burden of Stroke in Qatar

Abstract

Qatar is located on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The total population is over 2.1 million with around 15% being Qatari citizens. Hamad General Hospital (HGH) is the only tertiary referral governmental hospital in Qatar which admits acute (thrombolysis-eligible) stroke patients. To provide an overview of the burden of stroke in Qatar. Data from literature databases, online sources and our stroke registry were collated to identify information on the burden of stroke in Qatar. Overall, over 80% of all stroke patients in Qatar are admitted in HGH. In 2010, the age-standardized incidence for first-ever ischemic stroke was 51.88/100,000 person-years. To date our stroke registry reveals that 79% of all stroke patients are male and almost 50% of stroke patients are 50 years or less. Hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia are the main predisposing factors for stroke, with ischemic stroke being more common (87%) than hemorrhagic stroke (13%). Despite the lack of a stroke unit, 9% of ischemic stroke patients are being thrombolyzed. However the presence of a stroke ward allows swift turnover of patients with a length of stay of less than 5 days before discharge or, if required, transfer to the fully-equipped hospital-based rehabilitation service. Several community awareness programs are ongoing, in addition to several research programs funded by the Qatar National Research Fund and Hamad Medical Corporation. In a country where over 15% of the population suffers from diabetes there is continuous need for national community-based awareness campaigns, prevention and educational programs particularly targeting patients and health care workers.