Stroke subtypes among Hispanics living in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Results from the Luis Vernaza Hospital Stroke Registry.
OBJECTIVE
Racial differences in stroke subtypes have been documented. Asians have a higher rate of cerebral hemorrhage than whites; however, there is little information about stroke subtypes among Hispanics. The purpose of this study was to determine the patterns of stroke subtypes in a population of Hispanics.


METHODS
Five hundred consecutive patients with a first stroke were included. Patients were collected from hospital wards, the emergency department, and the outpatient clinic to ensure inclusion of patients with a wide range of stroke severity. Computed tomography was available in all cases. Patients with pure subarachnoid hemorrhage were excluded.


RESULTS
There were 313 (62.6%) patients with an infarct and 187 (37.4%) with a hemorrhage. Hypertensive arteriolopathy was the most common cause of both infarcts and hemorrhages. The carotid territory was involved in 70.6% of the 313 patients with infarcts, the vertebrobasilar territory in 17.9%, multiple territories in 6.7%, and a watershed area in 4.8%. Hemorrhages were most often lobar (36.4%), followed by putaminal (30.5%), brain stem (9.1%), cerebellar (8%), thalamic (8%), ventricular (5.3%), and caudate (2.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
This hospital-based stroke registry suggests that stroke in Hispanics has a pattern different from that in whites but similar to that in Asians. Cerebral hemorrhages occur three times more frequently in Hispanics than in whites.
Del Brutto
O H
OH
Department of Neurology, Luis Vernaza Hospital, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Mosquera
A
A
Sánchez
X
X
Santos
J
J
Noboa
C A
CA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D004484:Ecuador; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D044469:Racial Groups; D012042:Registries