A year's retrospective evaluation of patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of ischemic stroke at Kocatepe University Medicine Faculty Neurology Clinic

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to describe the etiological, demographical and clinical features and determine the risk factors of acute ischemic stroke patients, who were hospitalized and treated at Afyon Kocatepe University (AKU) Medical School Neurology Department within a year. METHODS: The stroke subtypes of 104 acute ischemic stroke patients hospitalized at AKU Medical School Neurology Department within a year were classified according to TOAST (Trial of Org 10172 Stroke Treatment) retrospectively. The distribution of risk factors based on gender was evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 104 stroke patients, 49 (47.1%) were males, 55 (52.9%) were females. The age range of the patients was between 23 and 92 and the mean age was 66.79 ± 15.05 years. Stroke was present in the carotid artery perfusion area in 84 patients (80.8%) and in the vertebro-basilar perfusion region in 20 (19.2%) patients. Hypertension, which was found in 61patients (58.7%), was at the top of the risk factors. The difference was statistically significant based on the hypertension, when the risk factors were assessed according to gender. The etiological classification based on the TOAST criteria was as follows: ischemic stroke resulting from small artery disease in 32 (30.8%), cardioembolic stroke in 27 (26%), and great artery atherosclerosis in 22 (21.2%) patients. The etiological factors of 5 (4.8%) patients were rare causes and in 18 (17.3%) no etiology could be found despite the investigation. CONCLUSION: The most important risk factors of ischemic stroke, which is a common entity in the elderly, are hypertension and diabetes mellitus. The strokes caused by small artery diseases are the most common type based on the classification of TOAST criteria. There is limited number of studies evaluating the stroke epidemiology in our country; therefore further studies are needed to assess this issue