Seasonal variations and meteoral factors influence in stroke on Nouakchott

Abstract

The role of meteorological conditions in stroke occurrence has been the subject of several studies in the last ten years. Most of the work was carried out in temperate climates, few studies concerned the tropical climate. We carried out a retrospective study at the Nktt CHS neurology department, going from 01/01/2012 to 31/12/2016. Our inclusion criteria were an age greater than 15 years, all medical imaging confirmed stroke from the Nouakchott region. Daily meteorological information was obtained from the national meteorological service by calculating the monthly and seasonal average of each parameter (mean wind speed, temperature and humidity). The seasons were distributed in the rainy dry season, cold dry season and in the hot season. We collected 1280 patient records, with a sex ratio of 1.24. The average age of patients was 61.59 years, with extremes of 16 to 95 years. The most representative age group was between 70 and 80 years old at 28.3%. The average number of strokes per year was 256 and the average number per month was 21.3. There is a decrease in global incidenc in the rainy season with a minimum in July and a maximum in December and January. The incidence of AVCH decreases during the hot, rainy season. That of DALYs, shows a slight decrease in cold dry season, with a maximum during september. The number of strokes is significantly negatively correlated with humidity. At the end of this work, we observe the seasonal variation in the incidence of stroke as a whole.