Subtypes of Acute Ischemic Stroke

Background: To determine the frequency ofvarious subtypes of acute ischemic stroke amongpatients using the TOAST criteria.Methods: In this prospective, cross sectional study156 consecutive stroke patients fulfilling theinclusion criteria were recruited. Information on riskfactors like age, gender, diabetes and hypertensionwas collected. Physical and neurologicalexamination was done and relevant investigationswere reviewed, to classify the subtype of strokeaccording to TOAST criteria. . Risk factors like age,gender, diabetes and hypertension were comparedwith stroke subtypes after stratification using thechi-square test with significance at p < 0.05.Results: Out of the 156 patients with acute ischemicstroke, mean age at presentation was 63.51 years.Among them 75% had hypertension and 48.1% werediabetics. The various subtypes of acute ischemicstroke were Large artery atherosclerosis(35.3%)whichwas the commonest cause. Large arteryatherosclerosis was found to be more common infemales (47.1% vs 25.6%) whereas cardioembolicstrokes were more common in males (29.1% vs17.1%) (p value 0.02). When hypertension anddiabetes was compared with stroke subtypes theresults were statistically insignificant (p value.>0.05).Conclusion: Higher incidence of large artery andcardioembolic disease was found. Preventive effortsagainst the burden of ischemic stroke should focuson risk factor intervention for each patient accordingto subtype rather than ischemic stroke as a whole