Objective: The present study evaluated the characteristics and natural history of stroke patients.
Method: Seven hundred and sixty seven consecutive patients admitted through acute care facility were reviewed. All medical records including age, case fatality, risk factors and radiological findings including CT or MRI were reviewed. To investigate the activities of daily living (ADL) of stroke patients, follow-up study was done in 303 patients through telephone interview or direct contact. Stroke was subdivided into cerebral infarct, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).
Results: The proportion of stroke subtypes were infarct (45.9%), ICH (34.7%) and SAH (19.4%). The recurrence rate of stroke was higher in the infarct patient. Higher percentage of fatality was noted in the SAH patient. Higher incidence of hemorrhage was still observed compared to western country. Hypertension is the major risk factors for all stroke subtypes. But among hypertensive individuals, only 29% patients controlled the hypertension. Fifty-eight percent of stroke patients regained independent ADL.
Conclusion: The result of this study shows the clinical pictures of stroke patients. Further research was needed to investigate the trends of stroke and control of risk factors and attention must be paid to the patients who is dependent in ADL.
