Stroke in patients with and without diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a well-recognized risk factor for stroke. Stroke in diabetic patients is different from stroke in non-diabetics from several perspectives. This study was carried out with the aim to identify and compare distinctive patterns between diabetic and non-diabetic stroke cases.Methods: It is a hospital based cross-sectional study, carried out at PESIMSR Hospital, Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, in which 80 consecutive patients with stroke (40 patients with and 40 without DM) were studied. Clinical features, risk factors, stroke patterns and outcome were studied.Results: The mean age (years) in stroke patients 57.5 ± 12.7 and 61.3 ± 12.9 (p=NS) stroke in patients with and without DM respectively. Males outnumbered females in both the groups (p=NS). Stroke patients with DM known to have hypertension were 75% and that of non-DM group was 42.5%. Diabetic stroke patients with history of coronary artery disease formed 32.5% and that of non-diabetic group was 27.5%. The mean high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (mg/dL) was lower in the diabetic group (38.8 ± 12.6) compared to that in the non-diabetic group (50.1 ± 6.9). The mean triglycerides (TG) (mg/dL) was significantly higher in the diabetic (216.9 ± 67.6) than in the non- diabetic group (150.05 ± 60.58). Both diabetic and non-diabetic patients had greater incidence of ischemic stroke (about 75%) than hemorrhagic stroke. In the present study, 37.5% of stroke patients with diabetes had a poor outcome compared to 22.5% of stroke patients without diabetes.Conclusions: DM is an independent risk factor for stroke. Stroke in patients with DM differs from that of stroke in persons without DM with respect to age, gender, stroke severity, prevalence of risk factors and outcome. Hypertension, HDL level and TG were significantly associated with DM. Diabetics stroke patients were having significantly higher levels of mean TG level, lower mean HDL level.