This study describes the burden of stroke on hospital services in a Caribbean community. The settings are the two main acute general hospitals in Trinidad observed over a 12 month period. All subjects were admitted with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke. The measures were hospital admission rates, length of hospital stay, case-fatality rates, disability at discharge, and risk factors for stroke. There were 1.105 hospital admissions with a diagnosis of stroke. The median length of stay was 4 days, with an interquartile range of 2 to 9, and stroke accounted for approximately 9.478 bed days per annum. The hospital admission fatality rate was 29 por cien. Among surviving patients, 437 (56 percentage) were severely disabled at discharge. Age-standardized admission rates for first strokes in persons aged 35-64 years were 114 (95 percentage CI: 83 to 145) per 100.000 in Afro-Trinidadian men and 144 (109 to 179) in Indo-Trinidadian men. The equivalent rates for women were 115 (84 to 146) and 152 (118 to 186). Among patients with first strokes, 348/531 (66 percentage) reported physician-diagnosed hypertension, but only 226 (65 percentage) of these reported being on antihypertensives at admission. Stroke in Trinidad and Tobago is associated with a high case-fatality rate and severe disability in survivors. Modifiable risk factors were reported in a majority of stroke cases, and there is a need to develop effective preventive strategies

Rev Panam Salud Publica;4(4),oct. 1998

Transtornos Cerebrovasculares; Fatores de Risco; Hospitais; Trinidad e Tobago

Mahabir, Deepak,Bickram, Lydia,Gulliford, Martin C (1998) Stroke in Trinidad and Tobago: burden of illness and risk factors. Rev Panam Salud Publica;4(4) 233-237,oct. 1998. Retrieved from http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49891998001000002&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en