title: A review of stroke admissions at a tertiary hospital in rural Southwestern Nigeria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stroke is a common neurological disorder and is the third leading cause of death and a major cause of long-term disability. The disease is expected to increase in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria. There is no information on stroke in rural Nigeria.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To review the clinical patterns, risk-factors, and outcome of stroke in a tertiary hospital in rural Nigeria and examine the rural-urban variation of stroke hospitalization in Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a retrospective study of patients who had a clinical diagnosis of stroke at the Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti, South-western Nigeria between November 2006 and October 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 101 patients who had stroke were admitted during this review period, accounting for 4.5% of medical admission and 1.3% of total hospital admission. Women accounted 52.5% of cases, with a male to female ratio of 1 : 1.1. Their mean age was 68 ± 12 years. Stroke occurrences increased with age, as almost half (49.5%) of the cases were aged ≥70 years and majority (84.2%) of them were in low socioeconomic class. The mean hospital stay for stroke treatment was 12 ± 9 days, Glasgow coma score on admission was 11 ± 4. Ischemic stroke was 64.4%; hemorrhagic stroke, 34.7%; and indeterminate, 1.0%. Hypertension (85.2%), diabetes mellitus (23.8%), and tobacco smoking (22.8%) were the common identifiable risk factors for stroke. Of all the patients, 69% had ≥2 risk factors for stroke. Thirty-day case fatality was 23.8%; it increases with age and was higher among men than women (29.2 vs 18.9%) and in patients with diagnosis of hemorrhagic stroke (34.3 vs 18.5%). The numbers of identifiable risk factors of stroke has no effect on the 30-day case fatality. When compared with stroke in urban areas of Nigeria, we found no differences in frequency of hospitalization (1.3 vs 0.9 - 4%) and the major risk factor (hypertension). Hemorrhagic stroke was more common in urban than in the rural community (45.2 - 51 vs 34.7%) and the 30-day case fatality was lower in the rural community (23.8 vs 37.6 - 41.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Stroke is also a common neurological condition in rural Nigeria, in view of the fact that almost 70% of the patients had ≥2 risk factors of stroke. We recommend that, sustainable, community-friendly intervention programmes are incorporated into the health care system for the early prevention, recognition, and modification of the risk factors in persons prone to the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Ilorin, Nigeria. femuy1967@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: Olufemi O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Desalu
authors.forename: Kolawole W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Wahab
authors.forename: Bimbo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fawale
authors.forename: Timothy O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Olarenwaju
authors.forename: Olusegun A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Busari
authors.forename: Adebowale O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Adekoya
authors.forename: Joshua Oluwafemi
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Afolayan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014505:Urban Population