Sarfo F S, Acheampong J W, Appiah L T, Oparebea E, Akpalu A, Bedu-Addo G
Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana ; School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.
Ghana Med J. 2014 Sep;48(3):127-34. doi: 10.4314/gmj.v48i3.2.
Stroke is an emerging public health challenge in Ghana requiring urgent attention for its control. Because some of the risk factors for stroke are modifiable, characterisation of these risk factors in the Ghanaian population as well as outcomes of stroke are urgently needed to guide policy for non-communicable diseases. We therefore conducted this study to evaluate the frequencies of the traditional risk factors and outcomes of stroke at the main tertiary referral centre in the middle belt of Ghana in a prospective observational study.
Patients with a clinical diagnosis of stroke were consecutively recruited and vascular risk factors were assessed as well as markers of severity of stroke and in-patient treatment outcomes. 265 patients were recruited, 56.6% were females and mean ± SD age of 64.6 ± 14.54 years. 85%, 73% and 58% of patients had systemic arterial hypertension, physical inactivity and obesity respectively as common risk factors. We identified that patients with stroke had a median of 3 traditional risk factors, were unaware of the presence of these risk factors or were poorly controlled if known. Stroke was associated with a high in-patient case fatality rate of 43% principally among patients with haemorrhagic stroke.
Our findings indicate that urgent concerted efforts are required to improve public awareness and management of the prevailing risk factors of stroke in Ghana.
中风是加纳面临的一个新出现的公共卫生挑战，需要紧急关注以进行控制。由于中风的一些风险因素是可以改变的，因此迫切需要了解加纳人群中这些风险因素的特征以及中风的后果，以指导非传染性疾病的政策制定。因此，我们进行了这项前瞻性观察性研究，以评估加纳中部主要三级转诊中心中风的传统风险因素频率和中风后果。
连续招募临床诊断为中风的患者，评估血管危险因素、中风严重程度标志物和住院治疗结果。共招募了265名患者，其中56.6%为女性，平均年龄±标准差为64.6±14.54岁。分别有85%、73%和58%的患者患有系统性动脉高血压、身体活动不足和肥胖等常见风险因素。我们发现中风患者的传统风险因素中位数为3个，他们不知道这些风险因素的存在，或者即使知道也控制不佳。中风与43%的高住院病死率相关，主要发生在出血性中风患者中。
我们的研究结果表明，需要立即共同努力，提高加纳公众对中风主要风险因素的认识并加强管理。
