Establishment of population-based stroke registry in Ludhiana city, northwest India: feasibility and methodology

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) launched a Task Force Project to assess the viability of a population-based stroke registry.
• Ludhiana city in Punjab, Northwest India, was selected as the study location.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of establishing a population-based stroke registry in an urban Indian setting.
• To identify practical challenges encountered during the initial phase of data collection.

Main Methods:

• A prospective registry of first-ever stroke patients over 18 years was conducted from March 2010 to March 2011.
• Data collection followed the World Health Organization (WHO) STEPS approach, utilizing hospital records, scan centers, and physician reports.
• Patient outcomes were assessed using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 28 days post-stroke, and mortality data were obtained from the Municipal Corporation.

Main Results:

• A total of 905 first-ever stroke cases were initially documented.
• After exclusions, 493 patients were included in the registry.
• Key challenges included obtaining informed consent, data sharing reluctance, identifying key personnel, accessing medical records, and incomplete death reporting.

Conclusions:

• The study demonstrated the feasibility of conducting a population-based stroke registry in an urban Indian population using the described methodology.
• Identified feasibility issues were addressed to refine the registry for its main phase, ensuring more robust data collection for future stroke epidemiology studies.