Abstract
Background: There is paucity of data on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among stroke patients in our population. This study aimed at assessing CVD risk factors amongst stroke patients compared with apparently healthy controls. Methods: This was a case-control study conducted at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano. One hundred stroke subjects were consecutively recruited and compared with 100 age and sex matched controls. The CVD risk factors assessed were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, obesity, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status (SES), increased age, male gender and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status. Results: Mean age was 56.4 ± 15.8 years for cases and 54.5 ± 15.4 years for controls (p = 0.39), and 53% of the former and 52% of the latter were males (p = 0.887). The most prevalent CVD risk factor was hypertension, found in 71% of cases and 42% of the controls, (p = 0.01). All heart diseases were found in 70% of cases and 21% of controls (p < 0.001), and hypertensive heart disease (HHD) was the commonest, found in 55% of cases and 18% of controls (p < 0.001). Dyslipidemia was found in 53% of cases and 37% of the controls (p = 0.023), diabetes mellitus/hyperglycemia in 23% of the cases and 6% of the controls (p = 0.01), history of transient ischemic attack (TIA) in 19% of cases and 1% of the controls (p = 0.01), while atrial fibrillation was found in 9% of cases only. Other risk factors were uncommon. Conclusion: The most frequent CVD risk factors among Nigerians with stroke were systemic hypertension, heart diseases, male sex and dyslipidemia, while HIV and other risk factors were uncommon. Thus medical attention and public enlightenment should focus on the common ones as detected in this study.
Highlights
Global burden of stroke is high, inclusive of its increasing incidence, mortality, disability adjusted life years (DALYs), and economic impact, in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) [1]
Dyslipidemia was found in 53% of cases and 37% of the controls (p = 0.023), diabetes mellitus/hyperglycemia in 23% of the cases and 6% of the controls (p = 0.01), history of transient ischemic attack (TIA) in 19% of cases and 1% of the controls (p = 0.01), while atrial fibrillation was found in 9% of cases only
Hypertension was the commonest cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor present in 71% of the cases and 42% of the controls (p < 0.001)
Summary
Global burden of stroke is high, inclusive of its increasing incidence, mortality, disability adjusted life years (DALYs), and economic impact, in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) [1]. Among the CVDs, there is relative increase in occurrence of atrial fibrillation in addition to other traditional risk factors [5]. There is paucity of data on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among stroke patients in our population. This study aimed at assessing CVD risk factors amongst stroke patients compared with apparently healthy controls. The CVD risk factors assessed were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, obesity, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status (SES), increased age, male gender and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status. The most prevalent CVD risk factor was hypertension, found in 71% of cases and 42% of the controls, (p = 0.01). Conclusion: The most frequent CVD risk factors among Nigerians with stroke were systemic hypertension, heart diseases, male sex and dyslipidemia, while HIV and other risk factors were uncommon. Medical attention and public enlightenment should focus on the common ones as detected in this study
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