Stroke subtypes on imaging in a Jamaican population: a hospital-based study.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the pattern of stroke subtypes found on Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Kingston, Jamaica.


METHODS
A retrospective review was conducted for all patients diagnosed with stroke and who were subjected to CT or MRI evaluation at UHWI between January 2001 and December 2004. Data were collected for patient age and gender and type of stroke.


RESULTS
Four hundred and thirty-three patients were identified and classified as having cerebral infarct, intra-parenchymal haemorrhage or subarachnoid haemorrhage. There were 414 patients who had CT scans and 19 had MRI scans. Within and across genders, over 80% suffered infarcts with no significant statistical difference between male and female patients. Subarachnoid haemorrhage was the least frequent subtype and occurred in younger patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The pattern of stroke subtypes seen in this population was similar to that of Australian and European cohorts of patients but differed from that reported in Asians. Ischaemic infarct was the most frequent stroke subtype followed by intra- parenchymal haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage. There was no gender predilection for any specific type of stroke.
West
W M
WM
Department of Surgery, Radiology, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, The University of the West Indies, Kingston 7, Jamaica, West Indies. wayne_west@hotmail.com
Younger
N
N
Brady-West
D
D
Gilbert
D T
DT
Char
G
G
Barton
E N
EN
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007563:Jamaica / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D020521:Stroke / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult