Stroke in South Libya

Original article

English

Mutwakil G. Ahmed 1, Mohamoud Hussein Ali 2, Abduiqader M. Sufrani 1,Faraj A. Shenib 1, Abdu Nnaser M. Musbah 1.

1-Department of Medicine. Sebha University. 2- Department of Radiology. Sebha University

Sebha Univ. J. Med. Sci. 2002. Vol. 3(1):22-26

Abstract

Objective: To determine incidence and risk factors for stroke in the Fezzan region, South Libya. Setting: 2’ March Teaching Hospital. Sebha. South Libya.
Methods: This was a prospective hospital-based study of stroke patients admitted to 2 March Teaching Hospital during a period from January 2001 to December 2001.
Results: Two hundred and thirty-two patients were admitted due to stroke during the study period to give an average annual incidence rate of 662 per 100000 deaths. One hundred and thirty patients (56%) were male. The mean age was 61 ± I 6years. The 30-days case morality rate was 22.4%. A diagnosis of brain infarction was made in 182 patients (78.4%). Of the remainder, intracerebral hemorrhage accounted for 13.4% and subarachnosis hemorrhage for 3.4%. Among risk factors hypertension (66.3%) overshadowed the rest. Cardiac disease (34.3%) was the second common risk factor.
Conclusion: The incidence of stroke is high in South Libya. Therefore, active programs need to be initiated to identify risk factors in the population at large. Upon identification effective therapy should be introduced and maintained.

Keywords: Stroke, hypertension, cardiac disease.

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