Abstract
BackgroundThe burden of stroke among hypertensive and diabetic population in sub-Saharan Africa remains high. We sought to identify the risk factors associated with stroke occurrence in these high-risk population groups. MethodsA prospective cohort study involving adults with hypertension and or type II diabetes mellitus at 5 public hospitals in Ghana who were stroke-free at enrollment. Patients were followed every 2 months at clinic for 18 months and assessed clinically for first ever stroke by physicians. We calculated crude incidence rates for stroke and assessed the factors associated with stroke occurrence using a multivariate Cox Proportional Hazards regression models. ResultsOf 3220 eligible participants with 3805 person-years of follow-up, there were 54 clinically confirmed new strokes. Incidence rate of stroke was 14.19 events per 1000 person-years [95% CI: 10.77–18.38], with rates among diabetics with hypertension being 16.64 [10.58–25.00], hypertension of 13.77 [9.33–19.64] and diabetes was 9.81 [3.59–21.74]. Two factors independently associated with stroke occurrence were previous cigarette smoking with adjusted HR (95% CI) of 2.59 (1.18–5.67) and physical inactivity, 1.81 (1.06–3.10). In secondary analysis, stage II hypertension compared with optimal BP was associated with aHR of 3.04 (1.00–9.27), p = .05 for stroke occurrence. ConclusionIncident stroke among Ghanaians with hypertension and diabetes is quite high. Stricter control of blood pressure and engaging in regular physical activities are strongly recommended to reduce the risk of strokes.
Highlights
Recent estimates indicate that sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) currently bear a high and rising burden of stroke on the globe [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
African participants provided some insights into the potential risk factors for stroke occurrence in SSA
Two factors independently associated with stroke occurrence were previous cigarette smoking with adjusted HR of 2.59 (1.18–5.67) and physical inactivity, 1.81 (1.06–3.10)
Summary
Recent estimates indicate that sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) currently bear a high and rising burden of stroke on the globe [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. The Stroke Investigative Research and Educational Networks (SIREN), the largest case-control study on stroke in Africa [12] to date have recently identified and characterized the associations between 11 dominant risk factors of stroke in decreasing order of population attributable risk as hypertension, dyslipidemia, regular meat consumption, elevated waist-to-hip ratio, diabetes mellitus, low consumption of green leafy vegetables, stress, table added salt, cardiac disease, physical inactivity and current cigarette smoking [12]. These cardio-metabolic and lifestyle risk factors associated with stroke occurrence provide a clear evidence of the impact of the epidemiologic transition, driven by rapid urbanization and adoption of. Stricter control of blood pressure and engaging in regular physical activities are strongly recommended to reduce the risk of strokes
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