ATRIAL FIBRILLATION AND ISCHEMIC STROKE: A HOSPITAL BASED STUDY ON ELDERLY PATIENTS IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN
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Abstract
Objectives:
To study atrial fibrillation as risk factor in elderly patients for ischemic stroke.
Methodology:
This cross section, hospital based, comparative study of different age groups was conducted at Departmentof Medicine, Unit 1, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre, Karachi, Pakistan, January 2007 to June 2010 on 458(271 male and 187 female) patients with ischemic stroke. Patients above the age of 50 years with ischemic stroke werecategorized into four age groups. Other risk factors for stroke were also taken into consideration. Data were analyzedto determine age based relationship with atrial fibrillation.
Results:
Atrial fibrillation was observed in 190/458 patients (41.48%) above the age of 50 years who reported withischemic stroke Out of which 112 (58.95%) were male and 78 (41.05%) were female. Atrial fibrillation was observed tobe 11.20% in age group 50-59 years which increases to 39.85 % in the age group 60-69 years and 67.92% in the agegroup 70-79 years. It slightly drops to (61.11%) in the patients with more than 80 years age. No significant differencein these percentages was seen on the basis of gender. Observed through their medical record, other risk factors suchas hypertension, previous structural heart diseases, previous stroke and smoking were also having similar impact, frequencyof stroke in the elderly.
Conclusion:
The study reveals that atrial fibrillation is a major risk factor for stroke in elderly patients.
Key words:
Atrial Fibrillation, Stroke, Risk factors, Age-dependence, Hypertension, Smoking, Heart disease.
This article may be cited as:
Durrani MRK. Hospital based study on elderly patients in Karachi, Pakistan. Khyber MedUniv J 2012; 4(4): 193-196.
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