Stroke: Changing Risk Factor Profile and Unaltered Mean Age in a Developing Country. A Retrospective Study and...

The rapid changes in the lifestyles of people in the developing countries such as India are known to increase the incidence of risk factors for stroke like hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia. Tobacco smoking and alcoholism are on the rise. Hence, stroke might occur in younger age groups when compared to the earlier generations. We compared data of age at stroke in India across a decade.

Data from medical case records of 299 stroke patients from our tertiary referral Government General Hospital, Guntur, from January 2012 to December 2014 are collected and compared with previous studies of stroke in India.

The mean age at stroke was 55 (14) years with 32.3% women. The prevalence of smoking was 43%, HTN 46%, diabetes 17% and dyslipidemia 54.6%. A previous medical diagnosis of coronary artery disease was reported in 0.01% cases. When compared to previous studies, there was no significant change in mean age of stroke (p = 1.0). While smoking and dyslipidemias have increased, HTN and diabetes were more in earlier decades.

The age at stroke has remained constant over the last 4 decades in India. The profile of risk factors for stroke has changed over the years.