title: Left ventricular hypertrophy: a comparison among Kurdish patients with first-ever ischemic versus first-ever hemorrhagic stroke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) has been proposed to be associated with an increased risk of stroke. We compared the prevalence of LVH among patients with first-ever ischemic versus first-ever hemorrhagic strokes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This observational study, which was conducted at the Sulaimaniya general teaching hospital from November 2009 to March 2012, involved 100 consecutive patients with their first-ever stroke. Fifty patients had ischemic stroke while the rest (n = 50) developed hemorrhagic stroke. The presence of LVH was detected using transthoracic echocardiography and a comparison with respect to its prevalence between the 2 aforementioned groups was made.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of patients in the hemorrhagic group was 61.7 +/- SD 11.2 years while in the ischemic group it was 63.9 +/- SD 6.1 years. Out of 100 patients, 66 (66%) patients were males (31 in the hemorrhagic group and 35 in the ischemic group) while the rest (n = 34; 34%) were females (19 in the hemorrhagic group and 15 in the ischemic one). Ninety one (91%) patients were hypertensive (47 in the hemorrhagic group and 34 in the ischemic group). Fifty three (53%) out of 100 patients demonstrated LVH (31 in the hemorrhagic group and 22 in the ischemic group). A head-to-head comparison between the two groups with respect to gender demonstrated no statistically significant difference in terms of the presence of LVH among patients with hemorrhagic versus ischemic strokes; males (P value < 0.26; 95% CI 3.4-39.3); females (P value < 0.43; 95% CI 16.7-43.8). However, a univariate analysis after correction for age and gender revealed a statistically significant difference between these groups (P-value < 0.001; 95% CI 2.7-46.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LVH was more common in Kurdish patients with first-ever hemorrhagic stroke than in those who had sustained their first-ever ischemic stroke. Further analytic studies are required to clarify the prevalence of LVH in patients with ischemic stroke.
authors: Department of neurology, Sulaimaniya general teaching hospital, Sulaimaniya city, Iraq. dr.osama.amin@gmail.com
authors: Osama Shukir Muhammed
authors: OS
authors: Amin
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D007493:Iraq / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors