Home|Journals|Articles by Year|Audio Abstracts
 

Original Article



High Burden of Stroke Risk Factors in Developing Country: the Case Study of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Marija Bender, Edin Jusufovic, Vesna Railic³, Sima Kelava, Selma Tinjak, Damir Dzevdetbegovic, Dario Mot, Mensuda Tresnjo, Sandra Lakicevic, Natasa Pejanovic-Skobic, Osman Sinanovic.




Abstract

Introduction: The burden of stroke has been increasing worldwide, especially in developing countries. Very few data regarding epidemiology of stroke are available in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). Patients and methods: We undertook a retrospective hospital-based study in all hospitals existing in five cantons and one district of BH. The patients were recruited between January 1st, 2014, and December 31st, 2014, and only first-ever-in-lifetime strokes (FES) were included for evaluation. Results: A FES was diagnosed in 1479 patients (age 71.83 ± 11.703 years) during the study period. FES occurred in 709 men (47.9%; age 69.64 ±12.002 years) and 770 women (52.1%; age 73.85± 11.051 years). Stroke was categorized into ischemic stroke (IS), primary intracerebral hemorrhage (PICH), subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), which was diagnosed in 84%, 12,2%, 3,4% and 0,4% cases respectively. Early 28-day case-fatality was 18.5 % for all patients and both sexes combined. Short-term case-fatality was significantly greater in women (P=0.007). Among all patients with FES, 87% had hypertension, 35% diabetes mellitus, 39% hypercholesterolemia and almost 25 % atrial fibrillation. Discussion: This is the first study that provides us with information on epidemiology of stroke in BH. More than 90% of patients had one or more modifiable risk factors and the number would be even higher if we included smoking. The early stroke case-fatality was lower than that observed in other low- to middle-income countries. Conclusion: All modifiable stroke risk factors, especially high blood pressure, should be understood as a major public health problem in BH and efforts should be focused on the primary prevention of stroke. Our emphasis is on the designing of a stroke register in BH for a better health planning.

Key words: Bosnia and Herzegovina, stroke, case-fatality, epidemiology, hospital-based.






Full-text options


Share this Article


Online Article Submission
• ejmanager.com




ejPort - eJManager.com
Refer & Earn
JournalList
About BiblioMed
License Information
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
Contact Us

The articles in Bibliomed are open access articles licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.