An Observational Study of Stroke and its Outcomes in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: Incidence of stroke is higher in developing countries than in developed countries. India shows prevalence of Cerebrovascular Disease (CVD) in the range of 52 to 843/100,000 population. Stroke causes 9% deaths around the world. The basic principle of managing stroke includes making an accurate diagnosis, choosing the effective drugs and dose for the stroke type. Aim: To analyse the outcomes of pharmacotherapy of stroke based on characteristics and clinical presentation of patients admitted to hospital and to know the adverse effect of drugs used. Materials and Methods: This cohort study was conducted with Department of Medicine and Neurology at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubballi from January 2015 to December 2015. After clearance from Institutional Ethics Committee, 162 cases were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The clinical history, in examination modified Rankin score (mRS) at admission, discharge and on follow-up were recorded. The criteria for selecting the drugs, frequency, dosing, duration and change in drug therapy were recorded. The efficacy of drug therapy was assessed by clinical improvement. The adverse events were assessed and recorded. The patients were followed-up at three and six months. The data were entered after defining the variables in SPSS (version 16) from case record form. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise baseline data. Results: Of the 162 patients, 155 completed the 6 months follow-up. The median age of patients was 60 years for ischemic and 55 years for haemorrhagic stroke. More males were admitted with strokes {108 (69.67%)} compared to females {47 (30.32%)}; 130 (83.87%) patients had ischemic strokes, 16 (10.30%) haemorrhagic stroke {15 (9.67%) were intracerebral haemorrhage + 1 (0.63 %) patient had a subarachnoid haemorrhage}, 9 (5.8%) had Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA). The modified Rankin score calculated for the patients was statistically significant between admission and discharge (1.29, p-value 0.0035), and that between 3 months and 6 months (0.9, p-value 0.003) of follow-up. Total 93% of 121 patients with ischemic stroke received antiplatelet therapy. Amlodipine was the most commonly prescribed antihypertensive. Conclusion: Pharmacotherapy of stroke in the study was evidence-based and satisfactory. However, patients showed reduced compliance to all medications. Clinical presentation and type of stroke were important predictors of morbidity and mortality at the end of 6 months.