CORRELATION BETWEEN PRE-STROKE SYMPTOMS AND RISK FACTORS OF STROKE: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study is to gain knowledge of the relationship between pre-stroke symptoms and risk factors among stroke patients as well as defining the symptoms of stroke in stroke patients.

 METHODOLOGY: The data used in this cross sectional study was gathered using a population of 100 patients admitted in Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad. The information gathered using a questionnaire within a period of 3 months. The information was then processed by use of SPSS version 27.

 RESULTS: The percentage of male and female participants among the study participants was 66.7 and 33.3, respectively. The mean age was determined as 54.7, with the range: 28-75 years. Headache (45.8%), numbness or unilateral weakness (41.7%), and slurred speech (33.3%), were identified as the most common, second and third, respectively, pre-stroke symptoms. Some of the risk factors that were common included hypertension (72.9%), smoking (27.1%), and positive family history (21.4%). The data were analyzed to relate weakness, headache, fatigue and slurred speech to hypertension, smoking and positive family history. We discovered that there exists a strong relationship between pre-stroke symptoms and underlying risk factors (p value<0.05).

CONCLUSION: This paper has determined that pre stroke symptoms have a strong relationship with risk factors and therefore the need to be aware of the warning signs of high risk individuals. In addition, it also means that there must be special public awareness on pre-stroke symptoms, which specially focuses on high risk patients to encourage early visit to the hospital and timely treatment