Risk Factors Associated with Various Subtypes of Ischemic Stroke: A Prospective Study in BSMMU, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Introduction: Stroke is the main cause of adult disability and the second most leading cause of death worldwide. The number of deaths due to stroke is 5.54 million worldwide. Globally, 70% of strokes and 87% of both stroke-related deaths and disability-adjusted life years occur in low and middle-income countries. Method: This was a prospective observational cross-sectional study conducted at Indoor, Outdoor, Stroke and Neuro-Intervention clinic of the Department of Neurology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh, from June-2019 to May-2020. A total of 220 ischemic stroke patients aged above 30 years confirmed by CT scan/MRI of brain. Data were collected with a pre-structured questionnaire from the patients, investigations reports and face-to-face interviews and analyzed using IBM SPSS software version 23.0. Proper consent was taken from the participants. The collected data were ANNOVA tests and association within the risk factors and the patterns of subtypes of ischemic stroke where P < 0.05 considered significant. Results: Among the 220 stroke patients, large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA), cardio-embolism (CE), small-vessel occlusion (SVO, stroke of other determined etiology (SODE) and stroke of undetermined etiology (SUDE) were being observed 84 (38.18%), 14 (6.36%), 63 (28.64%), 12 (5.45%) and 47 (18.18%). Eighty-Six (39.09%) prevalence of subtypes was found in rural areas whereas 134 (60.91%) were in urban areas. The significant risk factors are associated with the prevalence of various subtypes (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study prevails the people of Bangladesh are vulnerable to various subtypes of ischemic stroke. The higher prevalence of large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA) in our patients suggests the presence of uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking habit and dyslipidemia.