[Cerebrovascular disease in a Neurologic Intermediate Care Unit in Chile. Analysis of 459 consecutive patients].
BACKGROUND
Stroke is the second cause of mortality and the first cause of morbidity in Chile and worldwide. Nowadays there is a major interest in introducing new therapies applying evidence based medicine for these patients.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the clinical profile of patients attended after a stroke, to determine stroke subtypes and their risk factors.


METHODS
Retrospective review of clinical records of 459 patients (mean age 65+/-48 years, 238 female) that were admitted to our unit during a period of 37 months.


RESULTS
Sixty three percent of patients had an ischemic stroke, 14% had an hemorrhagic stroke, 15% had a transient ischemic attack, 2% had a cerebral venous thrombosis and 6% a subarachnoidal hemorrhage. The global mortality was 1%. Seventy percent of patients had a history of high blood pressure.


CONCLUSIONS
The most common type of stroke is ischemic and high blood pressure is the main risk factor.
Mellado T
Patricio
P
Depertamento de Neurología, Hospital Clínico, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. pmellado@med.puc.cl
Court L
Jaime
J
Godoy F
Jaime
J
Mery C
Victoria
V
Barnett T
Carolina
C
Andresen H
Max
M
Huete L
Isidro
I
Tevah C
José
J
Tomicic F
Vinko
V
Romero P
Carlos
C
Fadic R
Ricardo
R
Soza M
Marco A
MA
Valenzuela M
Raúl
R
Tapia I
Jorge
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005260:Female; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D020521:Stroke / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology